Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Sanford Rubenstein to Testify Before City Council on NYPD Killings of the Mentally Ill


The following statement was provided by civil rights attorney Sanford Rubenstein

I presently represent four families of mentally ill persons killed by police in New York City within the last 8 months: the families of James Owens, Dwayne Jeune, Ariel Galarza and Erickson Brito. If you add to those deaths and the killing of Deborah Danner, who suffered from schizophrenia, by an NYPD officer in the Bronx, that makes five mentally ill persons killed by the NYPD in the last 11 months.  

As of late July 2017, only 16% of NYPD officers were trained in how to handle cases involving the emotionally disturbed. Certainly that number has to become 100%. Just as important, we desperately need a task force of experts to look at the protocol that presently exists to determine how training can be improved and what other measures can be enacted to prevent the all too frequent deadly confrontations between the mentally ill and police. 

We need to curb what appears to be a shoot first and ask questions later mentality of police who respond when 911 is called for help by a family member of a mentally ill person. In addition, this task force has to look at why present protocol is not properly followed by police who respond to 911 calls involving the mentally ill and particularly why police not trained in dealing with the emotionally ill fail to call emergency medical service personnel when they are needed.  

The creation of this task force to make recommendations for a complete overhaul of the way police interact with the mentally ill is long overdue. I urge this body to create either an independent task force to specifically address this issue or to make sure that this issue is addressed as a significant component of a broader task force to look at police practices and procedures. 

The killings of the mentally ill in this city by police must stop. 

Note: Attorney Rubenstein will provide testimony on September 6, at 11 a.m., in the City Hall Chamber.

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