A KQED review of San Francisco officer-involved shootings between 2005 and 2013 found that 58 percent of people killed by police had a mental illness that was a contributing factor in the incident.
Often it starts with a call for help. A family member, a caretaker or even a stranger dials 911 seeking paramedics to treat someone in a psychiatric crisis. But when there’s a threat of violence, the first responders are usually police, and what started as a call for help can quickly turn deadly for a person with a treatable illness.
That’s what happened when Christine Goias called 911 seeking help for her son, 34-year-old Errol Chang, who was in the midst of a schizophrenic breakdown at his father’s Pacifica home in March.
“He has paranoia and he’s thinking people are wanting to assassinate him, and now he doesn’t trust anyone,” Goias told the dispatcher.
A KQED review of San Francisco officer-involved shootings between 2005 and 2013 found that 58 percent of people killed by police had a mental illness that was a contributing factor in the incident.
She said her son wouldn’t go with them in the car and, in response to a question, said that he had a “little ax” in his pocket. “I hoped that they would be able to come and help us to take him to the hospital,” Goias said.
Errol’s brother, Matt Chang, said that when police arrived he was with Errol in the backyard, trying to calm him down. Responding officers from Pacifica were trained in crisis intervention, according to San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe’s review of the incident.
Matt Chang said police told his brother they were there to help, and his brother responded that he didn’t want their help.
A series of escalations led Chang to barricade himself inside the house. The Daly City SWAT team arrived with assault rifles and an armored car.
According to the DA review, police were worried Chang might find a .22-caliber rifle and ammunition hidden separately in the house. The SWAT team held their assault rifles trained on the house and took cover behind the armored car.
SEARCH DATABASE OF POLICE KILLINGS
Over a loudspeaker, an officer droned a repeated message for Chang to come outside. No response. Police threw flash-bang grenades into the house trying to scare Chang outside and, at one point, threw a phone through the window, but Chang didn’t answer it.
“People with schizophrenia, they’re afraid people are trying to hurt them, which is why my brother was armed,” Matt Chang said. “They need to feel safe. Holding 20 AR-15s at this person, with a tank and all the stuff, and then throwing flash grenades, it doesn’t make them feel safe.”
More than six hours after Goias called 911, Daly City SWAT officers breached the house. Chang had built a barricade in the hallway. Two officers climbed over a mattress and furniture and ran into Chang, who was now holding a knife and stabbed an officer in the arm.
The SWAT officers shot Chang eight times in the chest, killing him.
The DA review found the shooting was legally justified, and commended the two officers involved in the shooting for their attempts to avoid that outcome.
And, Again
Less than three months after Errol Chang was killed, 18-year-old Yanira Serrano-Garcia was shot and killed by a San Mateo sheriff’s deputy in Half Moon Bay, 14 miles south of Pacifica.
Read the full 2014 article the KQED News reported this article More Than Half of Those Killed by San Francisco Police Are Mentally Ill
Listen to the podcast related to this article at Dial it down 1 The Problem
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