SWORD PING!...
(and other metal bladed thingees)
Samurai stuff! *grin*
Posted on 12/03/2014 8:55:50 PM PST by Altariel
Midland, TX — Rosendo Gino Rodriquez, 49, was shot dead in an altercation Monday while Midland Police were conducting a routine welfare check.
The Midland County mental health unit was conducting a regular welfare check at a home on the 2700 block of Washington Street, when things went sour. According to the Midland police, Rodriquez became “aggressive” during the welfare check.
The term aggressive is used loosely by the MPD, as they claim he acted out said “aggression” by running away from them, back into his house, and barricading himself in a room.
The Free Thought Project would like to clarify the definition of aggressive for the MPD: ready or likely to attack or confront; characterized by or resulting from aggression.
A person running in their house and locking themselves in a room is hardly an act of aggression. However, the MPD treated it as such and responded with its SWAT team, BearCat armored vehicle and bomb squad robot with a camera to gain a look inside the home, as well as a DPS helicopter.
Police claimed that after Rodriquez went inside, they may have heard gunshots. However no gun was found, nor evidence of any shots.
Family members say their father had not been on medication. Monday’s welfare check was intended to talk the man into taking his medication.
Rodriquez, whose family has been trying to get him help, was likely distraught by this heavy onslaught of police presence and became quite fearful, locking himself in his bathroom with a machete.
City spokeswoman, Sara Bustilloz said police attempted to use “many methods” including a negotiator to make contact with Rodriquez and end the situation without incident. However, the “many methods” were simply rubber bullets which proved to be ineffective, thus leading to the incompetent officers switching to real bullets.
“This is not how we want these situations to end,” Bustilloz said. “We want them to end without incident, and we do everything in our power to make sure we can do it that way first.”
Officers eventually confronted the tormented man in his bathroom, where they found Rodriquez armed with a machete. After the heavily armed men in body armor, who apparently all forgot their tasers that day, “feared for their lives,” they opened fire on the man, killing him.
According to CBS 7, per normal protocol, an external investigation into the officer-involved shooting will be completed by the Texas Rangers, and two officers involved in the altercation, who are identified as Sgt. Mitch Russell and Officer Sean Sharp, have been placed on administrative leave pending the completion of an investigation.
This incident is but another tragic example of the level police incompetence when dealing with the mentally ill.
A recent report out of California showed that the overwhelming majority of police have not completed state certification that focuses on the training in dealing with mental illness, suicide behavior, and drug use; this lack of training is evident, nationwide.
Instead of compassion and patience, which should be used in dealing with mentally unstable people, police most often resort to violent escalation.
The incompetence and negligence is rife throughout all levels of law enforcement which is why these deadly actions on behalf of the MPD will likely be ruled “justified.”
It’s not like police departments don’t know that this training exists, the information is out there. We’re simply witnessing callous disregard for the the preservation of life.
In a two-part study, researchers looked at use of the crisis intervention team, or CIT, model, a 40-hour program to train police to respond to those with mental health issues. They interviewed 586 officers, 251 of whom had received CIT training, and reviewed more than 1,000 police encounters with individuals believed to have behavioral disorders.
Officers who participated in CIT training were more knowledgeable about mental health issues, treatments and de-escalation skills, according to findings published in the April issue of the journal Psychiatric Services.
What’s more, when looking at emergency responses, incidents involving officers with CIT training were more likely to result in transport to mental health services and less likely to culminate in arrest. Researchers found that officers who had participated in training were also much more likely to indicate that the highest level of force used in their emergency response was verbal engagement or negotiation.
With the increased prevalence in autism and police aggression in general, something must be done before anymore innocent lives are taken.
Psychiatric patients do not take their medications because they have a THOUGHT disorder and do not think clearly or logically. For many people psychiatric medications are uncomfortable to take, and they feel like they are wearing a mental straightjacket.
Not too many people will voluntarily put on a straightjacket every morning.
The reason these poor souls are shot and killed , and the many others like them who are uncared for, preyed upon, or who prey on others, can be laid directly at the feet of the leftists who emptied out the mental institutions and homes for the mentally retarded.
The same people who have made it nigh unto impossible for families to get treatment for their mentally ill members.
When some poor mentally ill soul is killed or dies on the streets in your area, call up and thank all the leftist judges, lawyers and politicians.
Hell - I’m 62 and am willing to bet that I could have subdued him, without help and without killing him. This kind of thing seems to happen far more often than the good shoots that get the Blacks all het up.
When he started swinging a machete, why couldn’t the cops just back away instead of firing? Unless he was charging them I don’t see the need for deadly force.
Urban legend.
They could have backed away. But I think it became a life or death situation after one officer had been bloodied and the person with the machete was in the middle of a back swing in attempt to inflict further damage.
We’re talking microseconds here. The officers were attempting to collar him and take away his weapon. Their natural reaction was to switch from an offensive to a defensive position to protect their lives when attacked.
Again, the circumstances surrounding this incident should never have led to a life or death confrontation. There is blame on both sides.
Another imaginary SWAT raid: Woman steps off the curb before the traffic light changes, SWAT team drags her down and beats her up.
Well said.
There usually IS blame on both sides. Microseconds. Many people have tremendous bias, on whichever side, and blame one side or another without even knowing the full story.
Monday morning quarterbacks.
Another imaginary SWAT raid: Child cries in a restaurant and parents can’t get him to be quiet. SWAT team beats up parents and leaves child alone.
Now with the Gub'mint in charge of our health (they can force you to carry health insurance), I wonder how far they will go to ensure that one "follows the doctor's orders"?...
You’ve hit the nail on the head.
If you work for the gub'ment that is...
Or you can just kill a guy who has locked himself in a room with a weapon...
He might hurt himself so you guys shoot him....for his own safety.
The details you gave do paint a different picture of the story. Tough call on this one.
There has to be a compromise somewhere. On the one hand, people shouldn’t be locked up based only on a family member’s say-so. That’s a power that could be abused. Most people suffering from mental illness (manic depression, etc.) are not a danger to anyone. On the other hand, some people (like this man) really are a danger to themselves and other people.
I grew up in a town that was the location of a “state hospital.” Outpatients were placed in the community. It was an interesting place to live, to say the least, with the occasional pedestrian breaking into dance in the middle of the street, or some stranger walking up to you and saying something totally off-the-wall.
But some of my high school classmates also were committed there from time to time, too, by their families for things like drug abuse, for example.
This is why you should take your medication
Government employee logic!
Well I read it. Just because some liberal judge made some ruling, does not mean that I have to call the cops. I would deal with my relative myself, or have someone he had a good relationship with to help me.
If the person happens to be under treatment, I might also talk to them for advice. How exactly do people think a cop is going to get some one to take their meds? Pull a gun and threaten them? Do a take down, and give them a shot? It’s just not an intelligent thing to do, and more often than not, in the case I know about, it ends badly.
They shot this guy with bean bag rounds first but that did not work. The toxicology details might be interesting.
A few years ago in Odessa-—20 odd miles west-— a couple in their fifties had another fight and wife called the cops about her darling hubby who was combining his cancer and pain drugs with liquor. Three street cops got there and this guy White killed all three of them with a shotgun.
The Midland Sheriff office had their negotiator dude murdered in October and two other counties in this area had a car thief kill a deputy and a sex pervert kill a deputy so I reckon they are getting kind of worried sometimes.
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