By Gene Johnson, Claudia Lauer and Mark Thiessen, Associated Press
The Idaho police officers opened fire behind a chain connection fence a few seconds after leaving their patrol cars and critically injured a teenager – described by his family as non -verbal, autistic and intellectually disabled – while he had headed for them with a knife, a video of a witness.
Victor Perez, seventeen, who also suffers from cerebral paralysis, was hospitalized in critical condition on Tuesday after having nine bullets from his body withdraw and being amputate the leg, said Ana Vazquez, his aunt, to the Associated Press. Doctors planned tests on his brain activity.
“We don’t know if he’s going to wake up,” she said.
The shooting on Saturday in Pocatello scandalized the family and neighbors of the boy as well as online viewers who asked why the police opened fire in about 12 seconds after leaving their patrol cars while making no apparent effort to defuse the situation or use less fatal weapons. There is no indication that the police were aware of the boy’s conditions.
“Police barely spoke to anyone,” said Vazquez. “They just said to come back and just pulled to kill.”
In a video statement published on the Facebook page of the Pocatello police department on Monday, Chef Roger Schei said he wanted to “give clarity, share the information we can at this stage and approach certain false ideas that have emerged”.
“We understand the concern and emotion surrounding the shooting involving an officer who occurred,” he said, adding: “We are also aware of online video, which shows only one angle. The complete image requires a careful examination of all the facts and proofs.”
The events that led to the shooting
Brad Andres, who took the video, has a nearby car shop and told AP that he had noticed a disturbance when he went out to take a phone call around 5:20 am on Saturday. His 19 -year -old son, Bridger, called 911 and reported him as a domestic dispute in a courtyard.
The appellant of the 911 said that a man apparently intoxicated – the teenager – was missing a kitchen knife and periodically pursued a man and a woman in the courtyard, according to the audio of the 911 call published by the Pocatello police service.
“It seems drunk,” the appellant told a distributor. “They just run towards them with a knife then falls. I think he stabbed, in fact.”
The appellant of 911 noted that the inhabitants of the court did not speak English.
“He seems to have fallen to the ground and passed out,” said the appellant.
Perez was still on the ground when the police arrived around 5:25 p.m. four police officers ran towards the fence, ordering him to drop the knife. Instead, the boy got up and started taking steps towards them with the knife in hand. The police pulled several times.
Andres said the police “seemed to be like a death team or a shooting team”, adding: “They never asked:” What is the situation, how can we help? “They ran with their drawn weapons, they sparked a mental disabled person to react and when he reacted … they shot him.”
“It was really traumatic for me to watch, for me and my son being part,” said Andres. “My son was the one who called 911 in the hope of helping the family manage the situation going on. He didn’t know what was going to be sweat. ”
Questions for the police
Schei said he would not answer questions about the shooting due to an investigation by the East Idaho’s critical incidents.
“In situations like this, officers must make decisions in seconds,” said Schei. “They assess threats not only for themselves, but for those nearby. In this case, two individuals were a few meters from an armed and non -compliant individual. The risk was immediate and the situation evolving quickly. ”
The Pocatello Police Service did not immediately respond to emails asking additional comments on Tuesday, including questions about whether the police transported tasers or other less deadly options.
According to the ministry’s policy manual, all uniform officers who have been trained to use tasers must wear them, as well as a stick or a pepper spray.
Vazquez said Perez was walking with an amazing approach because of his handicaps; He was not intoxicated. The boy’s 16 -year -old sister shouted in the police not to shoot and he was “special,” said Vazquez.
It was not clear if the police had heard such comments, which were not apparent on the video.
Seth Stoughton, a former police officer who teaches the law faculty of the University of Southern Carolina, said after watching the video he had questions about the reasons why the police had not used less deadly weapons or the basic saving tactics to create space between them and Perez.
“It does not seem to me that an officer is in immediate danger to the point where they are starting to shoot,” said Stoughton. “If it had happened through the fence and the officers fell back and that he continued to approach … then that could change.”
Vazquez said the family had never called the police to get help with the boy in the past and that it was his first interaction with the police.
Throughout the country, police services increase the training of officers on the best ways to identify and interact with people who may have a developmental or intellectual disabilities, including many training -focused training.
Training often focuses on the way people on the spectrum of autism react to the external stimulus like noise or touch, which can be considered as resistant to controls or resistant to someone who is not on the spectrum.
Some groups have started providing stickers or marked license plates for people with autistic family members as a signal for the police.
Pocatello is a city of just under 60,000 inhabitants at around 165 miles (265 kilometers) north of Salt Lake City.
Johnson reported to Seattle, Lauer de Philadelphia and Thiessen of Anchorage, in Alaska.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
