Police shoot and kill autistic boy in his home

[behold a pale horse]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/02/stephon-watts-autistic-te_n_1249695.html?ref=chicago

Things that keep getting left out of the conversation:

1. He had Asperger's, which is a mild form of autism and not prone to violence at all. I suspect he had some other issues that led to explosive rage when he didn't get his way.

2. The idea that all he held in his hand was a butter knife is disputed by cops, who claim it was a kitchen knife. I suspect the parents are calling a utility knife a butter knife by mistake.

3. The police had been called out to the house on prior occasions at least 10 and possibly 12 times. On at least one occasion he had been tazed.

4. What was the point of calling the cops? Obviousy the parents felt their lives were in danger. If he was that psychotic, he should have been hospitalized. The EMT workers would know better how to deal with that.

Cops are not psychiatrists or social workers. If you don't want brute force used, call for an ambulance or call a mental hospital; DON'T call the cops!

[ScreamingMeemie]

1. "having been instructed by social workers that Watts should be handled by authorities when agitated"

The article states that so the parents did what they were instructed to do. I am sure that, had they known what was going to happen, they would not have called the authorities. I wouldn't have expected that result either. Unless my child was holding a gun and pointing it at them.

[behold a pale horse]

4. The cop was sliced in two places--it wasn't a butter knife.

And if you think about it, the parents would not have been afraid if he was just brandishing a butter knife. He was violent and scared his parents enough to call the police. The social worker (if s/he said that) is a total idiot! You don't call cops to deal with mentally ill people. It's NOT a criminal matter!

[ScreamingMeemie]

6. Agreed that the social worker is an ass.

But, is it the parent's fault for doing what they were asked to do?
I'm sorry but there is a bit of overreaction on the part of the police in this situation. It is a sad story all around.

[SaintPete]

12. Yes the parents share in the fault

"I was just doing what I was told" is a tired excuse for irresponsible action

[ScreamingMeemie]

26. When one is dealing with this situation it is hard to know what is the correct

course of action. The social workers take the blame on this one. Sorry, the parents were doing what they were told. I am guessing they were at their wit's end. It is easy for us to judge.

[SaintPete]

28. It's not easy to judge anyone

and the parents are not at sole fault.

But they are not free of responsibility, either. Ultimately, the police are the final line of responsibility..regardless of what happened before, the hand with the gun should be connected to a brain with the ability to act wisely.

[behold a pale horse]

45. I agree with you but the parents

may not have gotten adequate counsel on dealing with their son. They might not have had the wherewithall to apply common sense to this situation.

I am just a bit concerned that a lawyer got to them right away, smelling a payday bonanza. So quickly they may have been informed to play it down and make the cops look like the bad guys: "butter knife," "Asperger's."

If there's a settlement, give it to an autism fund.

[behold a pale horse]

16. I hate to judge the parents because they are in a sad state right now...

I heard the father on the radio last night. He couldn't talk much about it because they have already gotten their lawsuit underway (which is quite rapid, since this just happened).

It just seems like a lack of common sense. If they were so afraid of their son to even call the cops, what did they expect to accomplish? The two choices are to scare him (threaten to arrest him?) or taze him. Big solution.

[Throckmorton]

64. Dear Mister Horse,

The next time my Aspergers son flies into an uncontrollable rage, please come by my house and tell me how to help him.

[TBF]

22. Agree - I just see it as sad.

You'd hope that someone that ill would be in a safer setting (long term care). Just sad all the way around.

[Cooley Hurd]

7. The pig can run from a blade, the fucking coward!

The poor kid can't outrun a bullet...

[behold a pale horse]

17. They came out to the house 12 times already and didn't shoot him.

But you think they suddenly decided to kill him? Okay...

And maybe you should sign up to be the perfect officer since you are obviously a tough guy AND uber sensitive.

[behold a pale horse]

30. The last I heard, cops have to have a degree.

And in any case, that is just plain silly. Getting a BA doesn't mean you have a sensitive bone in your body. This has to do with the role of the police and the role of an EMT or a psych nurse or whoever hauls away raving, raging people.

And with all your education, you only know to call them pigs. I think this is about YOU and your story.

[petronius]

23. So in your world, anyone who gets cut by a knife is just a dipshit who

didn't think to run away?

[Cooley Hurd]

24. No, someone who is supposedly TRAINED to avoid the use of the firearm...

...yet used it when confronted with a non-firearm weapon is a dipshit.

[petronius]

29. Note that it was apparently two other officers who fired, not the one being cut, so

let me ask you this: you, Cooley Hurd, are backed into a corner with a person swinging a knife at you. You've already been cut at least once. Two police officers are nearby. Do you want them not to shoot, because the weapon is merely a knife? Do you call them dipshits when they do?

[jillan]

2. Special needs people are so misunderstood. It is heartbreaking.

I have a special needs daughter and have been trained in how to deal with behaviors.
Since they do not display their feelings in a "normal" way, alot of times they will act out.
This boy was probably trying to communicate his feelings to his parents & they did not know how to deal with it.

[behold a pale horse]

3. May I ask what her condition is? Because although I don't have an autistic child

I feel that Asperger's is characterized by social difficulties like being able to read people's body language and other social cues, being naive, taking jokes literally...

Any violence associated with autism (I would think) would be the severe cases with children who flail around and repetitively pound on tables (the uncommunicative ones).

[jillan]

5. My daughter has a chromosome abnormality - similar to Downs, but much more rare.

She has her own set of behaviors.

I have been around alot of autistic children and they do have many behaviors that are socially unacceptable.
The key is how you deal with them.

The first lesson I learned in dealing with behaviors is to make sure they are safe in their surroundings, and then get the hell out of their way until they settle down. It's kind of like dealing with someone with seizures. You make sure they won't hurt themselves and wait it out.
If their brains aren't wired like ours, you cannot reason with alot of them. Of course a cop wouldn't have a clue. And obviously these parents never got the training they needed either.

[Snake Alchemist]

8. Shoot him in the arm or the leg?

""They murdered my son...decided to kill him," Powell-Watts told Fox . "They didn't have to shoot him in the head, they could have [T]ased him. They could have hit him in his arm or his leg"

There really is too much television viewing in the US.

[think]

9. I thought this is what tasers were made for. Instead they are just people prods

and lethal force is used against a 15 year old kid with a knife. Sickening.

I realize there are extenuating circumstances but did anyone even try a taser?

I'm not a fan of tasers overall but in situations like this it would seem reasonable and less life threatening.

[behold a pale horse]

11. He WAS tazed...on one of the other dozen times the parents called the cops to the house.

I heard that because he was in the basement, they couldn't use the tazer (signal issues?). In any case, when he slashed the one cop's arm in two places, that was it.

[Cooley Hurd]

14. And the pig could've ran, the wimp...

...but instead, he drew a gun on a handicapped person and shot him in cold blood. Manslaughter at a minimum...

[nobodyspecial]

34. Manslaughter?

I thought you went to college? It certainly wasn't law school.

[JSnuffy]

49. Those words don't mean what you think they mean...

Maybe they should let him slash around until he gets all tuckered out.. poor widdle fella...

[think]

25. Tazed previously yes. So in fact they have a long a history of dealing with this

child. And yet they were unprepared this time and needed to use lethal force? I wouldn't say they did it on purpose but they surely could handle such a situation better.

I have no idea why a tazer wouldn't work in a basement. But hey. The kid is dead.

[Scootaloo]

31. Your whole attitude in this thread seems to be "good riddance"

I really hope I'm just misreading you, but you seem to be far more interested in patting the cops on the back than anything else.

[Cooley Hurd]

10. "DON'T call the cops!" This applies in about 90% of cases out there...

The pigs are out of control. Even for a minor issue, you risk your like calling the pigs...

[behold a pale horse]

13. Please don't call cops that name. There are bad apples in

every profession. They are here to protect us and even if they do it imperfectly, they have a lot of risk involved in their line of work.

[Cooley Hurd]

15. Sorry, but I come from a family of them...

...and I insult swine when I call a cop that. They're lower than scum.

And 90+% of them shouldn't have the job - what happened to psych tests for these guys???

[behold a pale horse]

18. You come from a family of swine? Oink Oink!

[Cooley Hurd]

20. Yep! That DID read funny, didn't it...

Here's sis:

[Rex]

19. Well...they won't be called to that house anymore

the boy is dead. So the cops shot and killed a mentally ill child...wonderful.

At least he died in his own home.

[fredamae]

27. Who's more dangerous to society

New Police/Law Enforcement State Policies or adults/kids with disabilities?
This is definitely not an isolated incident.

[behold a pale horse]

32. Yes. I recall another case where a deaf boy

(may have been autistic and non-responsive) did not obey the officer's command and was killed. Here is the point: parents (and apparently some social workers ) need to be educated about dealing with the agitation of various conditions and what to do. It is just nonsensical to call the police on a disabled (or even crazed) person! You call for an EMT. I think they also deal with people crazed and violent from drugs, too.

[fredamae]

48. I believe Law Enforcement needs Extensive training as well..

There are so many ways to control a person without killing them or using harmful excessive force.

[stevenleser]

33. I had a college English professor who had been a police officer. SHe had interesting comments

on situations like these. She was 70 years old and had been a police officer in her 20s. My college days were in the late 80s so we are talking about law enforcement in the 1930s.

She said when they had someone brandishing a knife who was either elderly demented or appearing otherwise not in their right mind, all police officers had a large thick blanket they used to carry in the trunk of their cars. They would outsmart the person such that they wrapped them up in the blanket immobilizing their arms and then they would take them to the psychiatric emergency room for evaluation and treatment.

She said that there is almost never a reason for the police to shoot a person with a knife who is in mental distress like that.

The issue came up for discussion because in 1987 in the NYC metro area, police shot and killed an obese elderly black woman who came at them with a knife. She said that would not have happened in her time.

[behold a pale horse]

36. Here is the likely difference: the violence in our society today.

Cops have much more on their plates today. There are constant drive-bys in some 'hoods, so much mayhem, as well as criminals shooting back at them! It's not your father's police force.

[stevenleser]

40. Yes but if they are responding to this kind of situation, shouldnt they be ready for it?

There were at least three police officers. Shouldnt one of them have been prepared with some sort of non-lethal way to subdue the boy? This does not make sense at all.

[behold a pale horse]

41. I am willing to consider that they DID kill him on purpose

because they were tired of dealing with him. And yes, if so it was wrong, but after a dozen incidents, I can imagine the frustration of having to be a psych nurse.

[JSnuffy]

50. Guess what...

... it doesn't work like that anymore.

You know what happens when you tackle someone with a knife and attempt to smother them?

They get hurt. Then they sue.

Might as well ask em to shoot it out of their hand or put one in the leg...

[stevenleser]

61. Your reply to me makes no sense at all...

Don't use a blanket and tackle them, because they might get minor injuries and sue...

But pull out your gun and shoot them? You know that officers are trained to shoot to kill when they pull out their guns. They are specifically trained not to try to wound someone with the gun. They are going to go for center of mass.

[nobodyspecial]

35. Certainly you could have made your title more inflammatory

if you had tried harder.

[behold a pale horse]

37. ??? That was straight from Huff-Po! And I am defending the police!

[nobodyspecial]

39. Sorry, misdirected

Another poster in this thread got me upset.

[behold a pale horse]

42. No worries. Thanks for the clarification:)

[Occulus]

62. "I am defending the police!"

I believe therein lies the heart of the problem.

[ZombieHorde]

38. My old foster son had autismism, and he was pretty violent.

He attacked me everyday for our first month together, and then he calmed down. After about six months, I was able to take him out in public.

[behold a pale horse]

43. Was he basically non-communicative?

This kid had Asperger's. Big difference.

[ZombieHorde]

47. He was nonverbal, but he could definitely express himself.

The boy who was killed by the cops was most likely higher functioning than my old foster son.

[T S Justly]

44. The cops deprived the deceased of his civil, legal and basic human rights ...

"If you don't want brute force used, call for an ambulance or call a mental hospital; DON'T call the cops!"

Speaking in general terms, there's always a police response when an ambulance is called. The police are usually
there before the ambulance. Police/ambulance is often the catch-all term for 911 responses. Often, after the
police arrive, the scene escalates and medics, social workers and other advocates end up in secondary roles
during the crisis, if not in need of a medic,themselves. Police are making things worse for all parties involved
with mental health issues. And, the police didn't ask for this.

Is the mental health advocate in the White House away with the civil rights advocate? Where's a national
comprehensive mental health program for this country? This has not been a case of isolated incidents, and not
even to have had a word on the general subject is telling, and, business as usual for our current administration.

[rhett o rick]

46. So you are saying that if you call the cops, you can expect "brute force".

It has become entirely too easy for the police to shoot anyone they "suspect" as being dangerous.

[JSnuffy]

51. What part of "the cop had already been cut twice"...

... don't you understand?

Maybe he is only dangerous after he hits a major artery?

[rhett o rick]

52. Shame on you. Instead of addressing my question you throw up a strawman.

If someone has a knife, of course they are dangerous. I never disagreed with that argument. Is killing him the only option? I dont believe so. But it has become the "go to" answer if a police person doesnt get the cooperation they expect. I could give you many examples of police killing people where other options were available. A man was pulled over for a traffic violation, he they sped away and was shot and killed. He wasnt a dangerous criminal, just had a warrant out for his arrest. A police office shot a mentally disturbed man that was in a tree refusing to come down. He lived but will have life long pain.

You said, "If you don't want brute force used,...........DON'T call the cops!" Good grief.

[JSnuffy]

53. I was responding directly to your post...

It has become entirely too easy for the police to shoot anyone they "suspect" as being dangerous

In what way was he anything but dangerous after brandishing and using a deadly weapon? Your post directly implied that he wasn't.

[rhett o rick]

55. I stand by my statement. It has become entirely too easy for the police to kill people.

This case might have been justified but it also might have been handled so the boy didnt have to get shot and killed. I am just sickened at the number of people that are killed by the police w/o ever being held to a reasonable standard. Remember, if you call the police, someone might get shot.

[JSnuffy]

57. So what?

and if you don't call the police someone might get stabbed by a mentally disabled man.

What is your point?

Coulda, shoulda, woulda...

If you stood by your original post you would be saying that he wasn't dangerous when he so obviously was.

As it stand you just want to stand back and judge...

[rhett o rick]

60. So what? I think that boy deserved something more than a bullet to the face.

Apparently you dont.

[McCamy Taylor]

54. If tthe cop you called to save you from a mugger "ran" when the mugger attacked him, too

what would you call the cop?

All you people who want the cops to "run" when they believe they are in danger better get some guard dogs and weapons, because in your world it is everyman for himself.

[Odin2005]

56. This Aspie is speechless!

[rustydog]

58. Tragic, but the article pooints to a justified shooting

The teenager was armed with a knife. (Does not have to be sharp to be a lethal weapon) and he allegedly assaulted one officer which precipitated the shooting.

This is tragic, very tragic...

[EFerrari]

59. If your family member is violent and out of control, you are screwn.

Calling any kind of social service can mean hours of waiting -- which you don't have in an urgent situation.
Calling the cops can be deadly.

[Throckmorton]

63. In my town you are going to get both,

I have had to call 911 for my Asperger's 17 year old, twice since last summer. Both time the was hurting himself.

Cops came both times, and did a great job I might add.

[KamaAina]

65. 5. Stephon Watts was African American.

Sadly, if you're black, you don't have to be on the autism spectrum to get offed by killer pigs.

Here in San Jose, Daniel Pham, who was Vietnamese and had mental illness, was offed in a similar situation a couple of years ago. With absolute predictability, the then-DA declined to press charges.

[I am the OP]

66. Please stop calling cops pigs. It's juvenile and disrespectful to the good police officers

who protect all of us, including YOU!

And the boy was BLACK, not African-American.

[KamaAina]

68. Only killer cops are pigs

and no matter what term you use for his race, it likely contributed to his death.

[I am the OP]

67. Update

I heard the victim's uncle on the radio yesterday. Supposedly the parents DID try to get mental health assistance for him but it's been CUT due to budgetary issues in the South suburbs of Chicago!

I still have sympathy for the cops, maybe even more than before, because the system may be dumping all these people with mental issues onto the cops' laps because of the cuts