Summary
On Sunday, Keith Vidal, an
18-year-old schizophrenic teen became too much for his parents to handle, and
so they resorted to calling the police. All they wanted was help getting him
somewhere where he could be treated. Two officers showed up, and the family
says that everything seemed under control. Then a third officer showed up, and
apparently ordered that the other two officers shoot him with stun guns. The
senior, only 5 foot 3 and 100 pounds, fell when he was stunned. The two
officers then jumped on top of him and while they held him down, the third
officer shot him in the chest, killing him. The teen’s family and friends are
very angry and are accusing the officer of “murdering their son.” An iReporter
described Keith as “a passionate kid who loved music and basketball more than
anything else on this earth. His performances on YouTube, and smiling selfies,
all just memories now of a life abruptly ended.”
Analysis
This story really just broke
my heart. I can’t imagine how his parents feel. It truly is a heartbreaking
story. They only called the police so they could get help for their mentally
ill son, but things obviously got way out of hand. I mean, this is a tiny
18-year-old boy we are talking about… It isn’t like anyone’s life was in
imminent danger or anything. I just can’t believe how the officers were so
willing to just take a young life like that. They didn’t even apologize. I
think it is completely selfish and heartless that you could just kill someone
so innocent. They shot him with stun guns; that should have been enough. There
was absolutely no precedent in shooting him and killing him. I’m just in shock.
And it looks like the officers are going to get away with it too… I just can’t
believe this. Where is justice?? No one deserves to be treated like that. What
a horrible way to die. That kid had a future that he will now never be able to
live because he was killed over something so small and so insignificant. Wow, I
still just can’t even comprehend this.
Here is the link to my
article:
I wonder what happened that would make the officers feel it necessary to end the boy's life? Stories like this make me question some people's judgement/humanity in general.
ReplyDeleteIf the boy showed no threat to harm anyone during this incident, and if the story was told by the witnesses truthfully, then this is truly one of the consequences of the media causing a panic towards the supposed threat of those with mental disorders towards our safety and well-being. We need be persistent in our efforts to treat and help these people with mental disorders.
ReplyDeleteThere have been so many occurrences of police mistreating or killing those with mental handicaps or disorders. I believe law enforcement should be trained more thoroughly as to how to deal with people with Down syndrome, schizophrenia, etc.
ReplyDelete