Fox 5 San DiegoSAN DIEGO – Friends of a young man with mental illness, who was killed by police after he threatened his family and police with knives and a stick at his City Heights apartment over the weekend, wondered if police could have handled it differently.
Patrol personnel went to the residence in the 3800 block of Menlo Avenue at 10:20 p.m. Sunday on reports that a man was threatening the lives of his family, according to San Diego police.
Officers tried in vain to subdue the suspect with stun guns and police dogs, Hastings said. When one of the canines approached, the man struck the animal on the back with the machete, according to police.Officers arrived to find the man holding a knife and a stick and behaving in an “agitated” manner, Lt. Mike Hastings said. As the officers tried to persuade him to disarm himself, he allegedly began threatening them and retrieved a machete.
The suspect then allegedly swung the weapon at an officer, prompting two others to open fire. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene.
The man was identified by friends on a social media website as 21-year-old Burmese refugee from Myanmar named Ja Ma Lo Day. He was oldest brother of four siblings, all Burmese refugees who escaped their country due to religious and ethnic persecution, according to a friend of the family.
He suffered from mental illness and had been involved in several prior encounters with the police, according to the online posting.
Wendy Gelernter was a volunteer for a refugee assistance organization when she began a friendship with the family. She questioned why police didn’t use a translator or bull horn to communicate with the family.
“Within 20 minutes, the police broke down the door and sent in a police dog. That’s worse thing to do to somebody who’s mentally ill and frightened,” said Gelernter. “[Day] was not a violent person, but when he was scared or threatened he did crazy things.”
The police dog, an 8-year-old German shepherd named Nando, was taken to a veterinary hospital, where staples were used to close the wound. The animal, which is expected to survive, has been with the department since 2008 and was set to be taken off duty this month, the lieutenant said.
The officers who shot the suspect have been employed by the SDPD for 5 1/2 and 6 1/2 years. Their names were not immediately released.
“I know they didn’t do it on purpose. It’s still a tragedy that could have been avoided,” said Gelernter.
Read more: http://fox5sandiego.com/2014/07/14/mentally-ill-refugee-killed-by-police/#ixzz37gFsaHMH
Oh brother….here they go flooding every little illegal immigrant sympathy story they can find in order to sway the public opinion.
Since the Communist bastards know we all hate cops, they are trying to get people angrier and against the police in order to feel sorry for the illegals. Pit one against the other like they always do. Typical trademark Communist tactic.
NOT GONNA HAPPEN, even if I hate cops as much as illegals. We still follow the moral rule of law, you Communist bastards and both will be judged accordingly as well as the rest of you snakes!
SDPD protocol is shoot to kill and ask questions later. The carjacking guy got off easy
American cops are the biggest pussies on the face of the earth.
Donuts, or death.
Who’s mentally ill and who decides?
“She questioned why police didn’t use a translator or bull horn to communicate with the family.”
Gee, maybe there’s a good reason after all why people who come to LIVE in this country just MIGHT want to consider LEARNING ENGLISH.
“Refugee”. I stopped there.
The battle lines are being drawn. I trust those who feel safe within the “thin blue line” realize how thin their blue line really is.
I watched a video the other day. It was 2 Polish policemen confronting an out of control and probably drunk, pedestrian wielding a metal pipe. The two Polish cops had their pistols drawn and the drunk guy was waving the pipe at them. I said to myself “if these were American cops he’d be dead already”. Finally the drunk Pole throws the metal pipe at one of the cops and you can hear it go “clang”….narrowly missing the cop. The drunk had an “oh shit” moment after throwing the pipe as he knew the cops were pissed. So he starts to run. Both cops start shooting…BUT…they are shooting for the legs. Finally one shot hits the guy in the leg and he falls to the ground and they hand cuff him. The point of my story is cops in most parts of the world have a heart. They don’t want to shoot to kill. They know if they can just injure someone they will usually give up. We are so brainwashed in this country to think a cop is justified in killing a homeless man simply for holding a screw driver in his hand. If you’de like to see the video just YouTube it . Search box “Polish cops shoot pedestrian”. It should come up.