By Gene Johnson
The Idaho police have published recordings of body worn out by the body and security cameras showing that the police were fatally pulling a knife teenager and intellectually disabled on the other side of a chain connection, confirming that they were making no effort to defuse the situation before opening fire.
Victor Perez was autistic and not verbal and had a cerebral paralysis, although there was no indication that the agents who responded were aware of it. The 17 -year -old was withdrawn from life and died in a hospital a week after the shooting, and a law firm said on Wednesday that he intended to bring an action in unjustified federal death against the city of Pocatello in the name of his family.
Perez was in a confrontation in his closed courtyard with family members who tried to keep the blade away on April 5 when a neighbor called 911, pointing out that a man apparently in a state of ignition armed with a knife – Perez, who was walking with an offbeat approach because of his damage – pursued people in the courtyard.
Perez had fallen and was on the ground when the police arrived. Designed cannons, they have shouted several times: “Place the knife!” But he got up rather and started heading for them. Three police officers opened fire with their handguns, while a fourth pulled a bean hunting rifle, officials announced Thursday.
The shots occurred a few seconds after the police left their vehicles.
The liberation of videos by the city included text slides which stressed that Perez approached officers, who were on the other side of a chain link fence, while holding the knife, and that he was close to two family members behind him.
“Whether Perez or not has a medical condition or whether one felt a mental health crisis has not been provided to send or known agents,” read a slide.
The shooting indignant members of the community who wondered why the officers dismissed without trying to know more about the situation, to use de -escalation techniques or to use a less lethal force. About 200 people attended a vigil on Saturday morning outside the Pocatello hospital where Perez died, and another crowd of demonstrators met this afternoon outside the town hall of Pocatello, which also houses the police service.
Police chief Roger Schei and Mayor Brian Blad refused to answer questions on the shooting, quoting an investigation by the working group on critical incidents in eastern Idaho. The names of the officers have not been released.
The law enforcement officials say that it is not always appropriate for the police to use de -escalation techniques, especially when there is a danger for officers or the public or if a subject does not respect orders.
But the police experts who examined the mobile phone video of the Perez shooting note that there was a fence between the officers and the adolescent, that they used the deadly force instead of the tasers and that they did not use the basic tactics of the backup to create space between them and Perez.
Brad Andres, who recorded a video of the shooting on his phone after his son called 911, said the police “seemed to be like a death team or a shooting team”.
“They never asked once:” What is the situation, how can we help? “” He said. “They ran with their drawn weapons, they sparked a mental disabled person to react and when he reacted … they shot him.”
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
