‘It shouldn’t be this way.’ Indianapolis faith leaders want changes to the way mental health crises are handled

A person who was having a psychological well being disaster died final month after an Indianapolis police officer deployed his digital management system, or taser.

Herman Whitfield’s mother and father known as for an ambulance within the early morning of April 25 however 5 Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Division officers responded. In accordance with police, Whitfield “moved rapidly in direction of an officer,” who used his taser. Whitfiled was unresponsive earlier than being transferred to a hospital the place he was pronounced useless.

Many neighborhood members say the incident ought to have been dealt with in another way.

WFYI’s Felony Justice Reporter Katrina Pross spoke with Josh Riddick, an organizer with Religion in Indiana’s Black Church Coalition initiative, about what neighborhood leaders say ought to occur subsequent.

Katrina Pross, WFYI: How did Religion in Indiana hear about this incident, {that a} man named Herman Whitfield was killed after an IMPD officer deployed their taser?

Josh Riddick, Religion in Indiana: Yeah, so we had heard about this, like most individuals via the press launch that got here forth from IMPD. And we nonetheless do not know what exactly was it that killed Herman. We’ve not had the post-mortem report come again. And we all know {that a} taser was deployed. There was some form of takedown transfer that resulted in Herman in the end not respiration when checked upon by EMT.

Pross: What response did you’ve got while you discovered about this case?

Riddick: I imply, like most individuals, pissed off, indignant. And in addition, you already know, saddened due to our work round psychological well being disaster response. That is the factor we’ve got been saying, we’re so afraid of getting occur. We have been afraid that there will be one other sufferer, and our emergency response system, not simply the police, every thing from dispatch to the police, to how we reply to of us in disaster, has failed, not simply on this state of affairs, however in different instances, as properly generally leading to dying. Our hearts break for the entire complete Whitfield household and the oldsters that we all know related to the household, as a result of this should not need to occur. It should not be this manner. And it should not be acceptable that it occurs.

Pross: Do you suppose this incident ought to have been dealt with in another way? And if that’s the case why?

Riddick: Yeah, completely. You already know, there should not be any state of affairs the place somebody is in a disaster, and so they find yourself useless. And we have been saying for a while, that for folk in disaster officers should not typically the correct response, if ever. And so oftentimes, once we invite police into conditions, as one in every of our leaders generally says, we’re at all times bringing a gun or a weapon into the state of affairs. And we all know that folk in disaster should not inherently extra violent. They’re not inherently extra, you already know, of a danger. We all know that they need assistance. And so these conditions, to me, talk a necessity for skilled skilled assist. We have now constructed a system that’s over-reliant on police, that our native police division has been saying for a while, “Look, we do not need to do psychological well being calls. That is not the lane that we’re in.” And they’re conscious of their lack of information in that area. Now, are there some strikes that may be made by them to regulate that? Certain, completely. However on the similar time, our bigger neighborhood in our work has been doing this and highlighting this has to demand one thing totally different. As a result of till we do this, we will proceed to depend on the police to resolve issues that they are not geared up to resolve.

Pross: MCAT, the cellular disaster assistant workforce, was not on responsibility on the time of the incident. Ought to they’ve been and what ought to the officers have executed?

Riddick: Yeah, in an ideal world, I would like that scientific therapists or licensed clinicians present as much as these conditions and never officers, interval. So that may be my hope and expectation shifting ahead. This isn’t a groundbreaking thought of what I am articulating. Different cities have figured this out. Different cities do that to an excessive amount of success. And there isn’t any motive Indianapolis cannot even be there.

Pross: What does Religion in Indiana suppose the town ought to do in response to this?

Riddick: Yeah, properly, we might need to see the officers relieved of responsibility. You already know, should you kill someone who was unarmed in a disaster, that is one thing that we do not deem as acceptable, and it should not be a suitable price of the job that someone died in your care. We might additionally prefer to see a unique sort of response created. So these conditions cease occurring, that we create a clinician-led disaster workforce that may reply to low-risk, non-violent emergency calls, psychological well being calls, particularly substance abuse calls, so that folk who’re are in disaster are getting the care they want and never having to be on the danger of of any form of state violence.