Gershun Freeman died in prison in Memphis, Tennessee in October. A few months later, in March, Irvo Otieno died in a state hospital shortly after police and hospital staff knelt down for several minutes. In addition to being the only two black men in America to die in police custody, their stories share another similarity: Both were detained by police officers during mental health crises.
On October 5, 2022, Shelby County sheriff’s deputies opened Freeman’s cell inside the county jail. Freeman lunged at the officer, who began punching, kicking, beat with handcuffs, and pepper-spraying people in an effort to subdue them, shows the length of the video. He died shortly after.
An autopsy performed by the county medical examiner found Freeman died of heart disease exacerbated by a physical altercation and being subdued by officers, and classified the death as a homicide. In addition, Freeman has psychosis, a mental health condition that can cause people to perceive things differently than those around them, his family said.
Police had booked him four days earlier on aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault charges after an incident with his girlfriend a week before his death, Shelby County court records show.
Freeman’s family and attorney alleged Correctional officers were very harsh with people suffering from mental health emergencies. “I don’t know what’s going on in America where law enforcement treats mental health issues like criminal issues,” civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said. said during the press conference.
No charges have been filed against the guards, and there is no indication that any have been reprimanded. Attorneys said at a recent press conference last week that all the guards seen on camera still work at the Shelby County jail.
On March 3, Irvo Otieno was arrested because a neighbor called authorities to say he was collecting lawn lights from his yard. Officers took him to the hospital for evaluation and later to jail, where he allegedly “physically assaulted” officers. (The contest’s family had a dispute.)
Photo by Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images
While he was handcuffed in custody at the hospital, video footage showed at least 10 Henrico County sheriff’s deputies and hospital staff kneeling down on Otieno for 11 minutes. He became unresponsive and died on the floor on March 6. His death was a homicide by asphyxiation, according to the state medical examiner’s office.
Seven officers from the Henrico County Sheriff’s office in Virginia and three hospital staff members from that day have been charged with second-degree murder.
Otieno was diagnosed with bipolar and anxiety disorders as a teenager and had been hospitalized before. However, according to his family’s lawyer, correctional officers reduced Otieno’s medication during his three days in jail.
The idea that law enforcement should not be involved in dealing with people experiencing mental health crises has grown in the wake of similar high-profile deaths in police custody.
“You can’t watch that video and not think police and law enforcement aren’t equipped to respond to calls to help people in crisis situations,” Daniela Gilbert, director of the Vera Institute’s Public Safety program, told HuffPost. “It continues to underline the need for a different approach to this kind of situation, and even more, a different approach to public safety.”
Police reformers and experts argue that an officer’s presence increases the risk of an interaction turning violent — even if the person never poses a threat. In addition, experts told HuffPost harassment, welfare checks, violations and other minor situations do not require law enforcement.
Gilbert said those calls, like minor traffic violations, can often turn deadly because of the biased officers who make the arrests.
“We [American] a culture of criminalization and the use of aggressive policing and arrests as primary tools to address social problems, all rooted in the violent legacy of slavery and white supremacy. And it’s not enough and it doesn’t produce public safety,” Gilbert said.
“Going around the edges of reform is not enough. The police are embedded in the infrastructure of the larger criminal justice system.
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In 2022, Washington Post analyzed incidents between 2019 and 2021 in which the police were called to check mental health or health – and found 178 cases in which law enforcement killed the person they were called to.
“There is no need for people with guns to respond to these situations when people really need people who are better equipped to give them the help and resources they deserve,” Gilbert said.
In 2022, total 110 people were killed after the police responded to people “behaving erratically,” according to the study of Police Violence Mapping.
A new report from the Care Advocacy Center meet people with untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement.
Some areas have begun to reform how they handle mental health calls. For example, Denver began using social workers in some situations instead of the police, and in 2021 New York City also began sending social workers to some 911 calls.
At Washington, DC, police started a pilot program that removed officers from some mental health calls and routed people instead to city social workers.
Other cities like Portland were founded road response teamspecifically tasked with dealing with people with mental health problems – and has been successful, according to researchers from Portland State University. At road response team operate unarmed weapons and are trained primarily to minimize encounters with civilians suffering from mental health problems.
New York lawmakers proposed “Daniel’s Law” this year, which would create special civilian teams across the state trained in nonviolent response. It was after the death of March 2020 Daniel Prudewho reportedly acted erratically before the police in Rochester killed him.
Ted Shaffrey/Associated Press
His brother said Prude experienced a mental health emergency after ingesting PCP and naked in the street.
Prude’s family called 911, but the incident quickly turned violent after officers placed a “spit hood,” a device used to prevent people from spitting or biting, over her head. Prude was declared brain dead on arrival at the hospital and died a few days after being removed. Prude killed himself, according to his relatives.
“There needs to be policy changes to make mental health care more affordable and a more diverse therapist workforce to meet the needs in our communities,” said Erlanger Taylor, associate professor of psychology at Pepperdine University. “This can help to ensure that people can get help before it escalates into a crisis situation.”