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The family of the man shot by police in Philadelphia called for an ambulance, not a patrol

2020-10-29T10:56:53.795Z


Relatives of Walter Wallace Jr. said they called 911 requesting an ambulance in the hope of receiving medical intervention. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said the calls and video that captured the moment of her death will be publicly released.


By Erik Ortiz - NBC News

On Monday afternoon, police arrived at Walter Wallace Jr.'s home in West Philadelphia for the third time that day.

Family members said he was having "another one of his episodes."

In the past, when the

27-year-old Wallace, aspiring rapper and father of eight

, had his emotions running high, he would calm down when told about his young children or with a song he liked.

[The shooting death of a black man by police in Philadelphia sparks furious protests]

But he was

battling a mental illness,

including bipolar disorder.

He had gone to therapy last week, his cousin Anthony Fitzhugh said.

"When I was around and he had a crisis, I could always say, 'Come on little cousin, come on," Fitzhugh said.

"It may take him a second, but if you know the things that reassure him, like that he likes music, that he loves his kids, when you start talking about these kinds of things ... sometimes it's easier to calm him that way."

Protesters confront police during a march in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020.

Wallace's mental health, and how familiar the police were with his story, have raised questions about the officers' response and their use of deadly force.

His death, which follows a series of serious cases of black people being killed by law enforcement, has also renewed the broader debate about police and mental health and the best way to handle such situations. .

Family members said they

called 911 for an ambulance

and expected Wallace to receive medical intervention.

But the police came first.

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The meeting was partially captured on video with a cell phone.

In this one it is seen how Wallace receives several shots in front of his mother and some neighbors, after the officers appeared to tell him to lower a knife when he approached them.

The two officers involved have not been publicly identified

and an internal investigation is ongoing.

"I was telling the police to stop.

Don't shoot my son, please don't shoot my son,"

Wallace's mother, Cathy Wallace, said Tuesday night.

"And they just shot him."

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Oct. 28, 202002: 01

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Wednesday that

the 911 calls and video from the officer's camera will be released publicly

after Wallace's family is first notified in the next few days.

The city remains on alert.

Protests continued Tuesday and

looting was reported

on

Wednesday

.

More than 100 people have been arrested, and more than 50 officers have been injured these days, despite the Wallace family calling for calm.

Several hundred members of the Pennsylvania National Guard were deployed to prevent further disturbances.

Wallace's relatives and his attorney insist

the police should not have used deadly force.

They claimed that Wallace's wife, whom he recently married and who will give birth to their ninth child at any time, had told police she had mental health problems.

"If when you get to a scene where someone has a mental breakdown and the only tool you have to deal with it is a gun, this is a problem," said the family's attorney, Shaka Johnson.

"I'd have a problem if my carpenter came to my house with just a hammer. Where's your screwdriver, sir?

Where's the right tool to do the job?

"

[“I can't breathe!” A black man dies in Minneapolis after being pinned down by a white cop]

Wallace had been taking lithium, a tranquilizer used to treat bipolar disorder, Johnson noted.

Philadelphia police said they received calls from their home twice earlier in the day for domestic disturbances before they received a third call from a man armed with a knife.

Wallace's family has not detailed why they called that day.

But Cathy Wallace said that when the police were there earlier, she felt her family was not taken seriously and

"stood there and laughed at us

.

"

Outlaw has declined to say what prior interactions Wallace may have had with police.

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"I think it's safe to say that once officers arrived on the scene, people told them that he had mental health problems," he said Wednesday.

"But this is what the investigation will reveal ... what the officers knew at the time they responded, what was sent, how that information was shared, and then how that information was used in relation to the police response." .

Relatives said Wallace had had previous incidents for which they called the police.

City court records show that Wallace had been in and out of the criminal court system since at least 2013 and had fights with his relatives, but that the judges had advised mental health treatment.

[Protests over the deaths of Daniel Prude, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd give no truce on Labor Day weekend]

When the family called 911, "they expected and trusted the police to help them," said Fitzhugh, Wallace's cousin.

"They are not going to make that call thinking that the police are going to come and kill their son."

Fitzhugh said the scenario could have been different if the officers who shot Wallace had been equipped with stun guns.

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Oct. 13, 202001: 59

Outlaw confirmed this week that

budget constraints have left some officers without the use of stun weapons,

and that plans to provide them to more officers must go ahead, it said Wednesday.

In addition, he said, the police department needs to improve its relationships with community mental health agencies so that officers who arrive after responding to these calls can better understand people's mental health history and respond accordingly.

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John DeCarlo, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven who was the chief of police in Branford, Connecticut, said he believes that

training officers on how to treat different types of mental

and behavioral health can make all the difference. in the decisions they make ..

But DeCarlo said

communities have to be willing to fund such training

and make it available to officials on a regular basis so that they continue to study mental health issues.

"

We are training police officers as if they were soldiers.

Soldiers have enemies, but police officers have communities."

Wallace's family said they want

those responsible for his death to account.

But while that happens,

Wallace's father, Walter Wallace Sr., is fighting for his own sanity

.

He is

traumatized

by the death of his son and is going to need help.

"If you see your son massacred, I would ask how you feel," DeCarlo said.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2020-10-29

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