police-officers-kill-us-army-war-veteran-with-mental-health-issues

In a suicide confrontation there is absolutely no reason this level of force should be used. Why wasn't a taser, rubber bullet or bean bag round used instead? I understand depression, PTSD, alcohol abuse and financial hardships. That was the first three years after ETS for me. Had authorities ever confronted me with firearms I'm sure it could have ended very much the same. Another apparent case of excessive force. I just hope there was a good reason why the escalation of force progressed as such.

This is the issue with the media.... Has there been an official statement by the police department?

Mental health issues are tough to deal with because in many cases, a third party, like family or friends, can't legally force the person to get help. Sort of like how with alcoholics, they pretty much have to be convinced to submit themselves for treatment. And in both cases, the person doesn't necessarily think they have a problem serious enough to need help until it's too late.

Then there is the gun lobby that has vehemently fought against laws that allow a court to remove weapons from people based upon testimony by families, etc who know their intent. Even though the person is entitled to a hearing to show that they are OK to maintain their weapons safely, to the gun lobby if a person is separated from their gun for a day or a week it's considered an egregious violation of the constitution. That's why you see so many cases where a person who is known to be struggling against the urge to harm themselves or others end up doing so with personally owned firearms. Then reasonable people ask, if so many people knew they were in such bad shape mentally, why was she still allowed to keep her guns?

Trump better fix the mental healthcare. I see this a lot out where I live. It's not the officers fault. 9 times out of 10 they don't know the person is mentally ill.
I knew an off duty officer who was shot in his driveway by a veteran with mental illness issues. The officer didn't know he had a gun until he started walking towards him to see if he needed help. And the vet opened fire killing him. His wife was only a few feet away. The guy was caught and obviously put into a lock down facility in the VA. But the longest they hold them is 90 days. Not sure what happened to him after that.