Cops Kill Man With Asperger's After Being Asked To Check On Him

[GennGreymane]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...b04f9b57d9d07e

Police shot dead an Arizona man with Asperger’s after being called to his home to check on his wellbeing.

Kayden Clarke, 24, gained online fame last year after he posted a video demonstrating how his dog, a Rottweiler named Samson, helped him through a meltdown. Clarke identified as a man, but he was known publicly by his birth name, Danielle Jacobs, at the time of the footage.

Mesa police officers showed up at his apartment after receiving multiple calls indicating he may be suicidal around 11 a.m. Thursday. Heather Allen -- president of HALO Animal Rescue, where Clarke previously volunteered and adopted Samson -- told AZ Family that she called police and asked officers to check on him after he sent her some concerning emails. Allen said she was told law enforcement was already on the way there.

Detective Esteban Flores said that officers -- who were not wearing body cameras -- fired after Clarke came towards them holding a knife.

“When [he] made contact with them [he] approached them with the knife, extended it out, and they felt threatened," Flores told AZ Family.

Clarke was taken to a hospital and died of his injuries.

His mother, identified only as Stacia, condemned the shooting in an interview with the New York Daily News.

“Before the police arrived [he] wasn’t posing a threat to the community at all,” she said. “And the police came into [his] own place. They shot and killed a 24-year-old autistic, mentally ill individual whom they had been familiar with and aware of [his] special needs.”

Samson, Clarke’s well-known dog, is now in the care of his family.

Clarke posted a YouTube video in December expressing how "ecstatic" he was to learn that his insurance would pay 100 percent of his gender reassignment surgery.

He also said that Arizona had the “worst mental health system across the United States” in a January YouTube video, and noted that he had received “practically no support.”

[Mistame]

Sad, but if he did come at them with a knife they have a right to defend themselves.

[smackyslap]

We won't ever know how it exactly went down but ugh I just feel like non lethal options could of been used here.

[Rootkitt]

Sad, but if he did come at them with a knife they have a right to defend themselves.

In many other countries they would have subdued him with non-lethal force. Lethal force as the first response has gone too far in the US.

[Deleted]

In many other countries they would have subdued him with non-lethal force. Lethal force as the first response has gone too far in the US.

What countries? O_o

[Jakisuaki]

Sad, but if he did come at them with a knife they have a right to defend themselves.

Police officers in all civilized countries learn how to apprehend people and only fire a gun as a last resort. Hell, most police officers in other countries aren't even allowed to carry guns.

Only Americans cops use guns as soon as they feel threatened. I thought they received training to avoid such a case, but I guess not.

[Derpleton]

Sad, but if he did come at them with a knife they have a right to defend themselves.

Pretty much this, my only question is why they reached for their guns before their tasers.

[enragedgorilla]

i am interested that a. a person with Asperger's can get cleared as "of a good mental state" to get the gender reassignment. b.There wasn't a social worker,mental health professional that was called to the scene FIRST(one would figure this person had one via his insurance/gender reassignment situation...as mental health is heavily weighed in that particular case.) ...then the police on standby. c. Wonder why the person came at officers, there on legal business and within the rights of the law (welfare check) at the behest of an outside party?
Sad all the way around, I would be curios to see the rest of the details on this one...seems a bit thin on those.

[Bryntrollian]

Lets charge into this man's house and kill him because hes going to commit suicide!

[triplesdsu]

Police officers in all civilized countries learn how to apprehend people and only fire a gun as a last resort. Hell, most police officers in other countries aren't even allowed to carry guns.

Only Americans cops use guns as soon as they feel threatened. I thought they received training to avoid such a case, but I guess not.

So you wouldn't feel threatened if someone came at your with a knife? I'm sorry, but you go after anyone in the US (cops or civilian), and it's your old damn fault if you get shot and killed. Darwinism at its finest.

[Thrif]

Well... this can be anywhere between him just standing there with a knife and the police being trigger happy psychopaths, and him actually coming at them with a knife with murderous intent, whereby lethal force was completely justified. And there's absolutely no way to know the truth, so there's little sense in discussing it.

[Dextroden]

#autisticlivesmatter?

Idk, seems really ridiculous at this point. I mean they were called to check on him because people feared he might commit SUICIDE

That's just so sad and ironic i almost can't believe it, but i can believe it, because Muricah.

It teaches a good lesson. Don't send the cops to keep someone from dying.

There is an /s, but I feel like I believe my own joke.

[Shadowmelded]

I feel like this is super relevant.

[triplesdsu]

Lets charge into this man's house and kill him because hes going to commit suicide!

If they just ignored the call and he slit his wrists, they'd get blamed too. They didn't go in shooting. They went in to check on him and the idiot decided to take a knife to the cops. Actions have consequences. Being "mentally ill' doesn't make you special or mean the world has to bend to accommodate you.

[Sky High]

this and other instances lead me to think calling the cops on a mentally ill person is a death sentence.

[BattleSaint]

Police officers in all civilized countries learn how to apprehend people and only fire a gun as a last resort. Hell, most police officers in other countries aren't even allowed to carry guns.

Only Americans cops use guns as soon as they feel threatened. I thought they received training to avoid such a case, but I guess not.

Christ you people make it seem like every cop trained outside of the US is a close quarters combat expert/SAS or SEAL level commando that can easily disarm any opponent at the drop of a hat. This isn't the Matrix its real life where things hurt A LOT and death is permanent. I acknowledge the sad irony of the story but that shouldn't keep the cops from keeping themselves alive.

[Gandrake]

I'm so tired of people thinking that police have to be nice.

Yes, sometimes they do things they should not and it is awful, but what kind of fucking retard approaches the police with a weapon? Are you going to tell that cop's family that your sorry your autistic son killed him because he was having a bad fuckin' day? Are your sorrows and apologies going to pay their fuckin' bills? Are you going to show up to his funeral and praise him for being patient and trying to be understanding with you son?

having a personality disorder is not an excuse for being a fucking idiot.

[Thrif]

Police officers in all civilized countries learn how to apprehend people and only fire a gun as a last resort. Hell, most police officers in other countries aren't even allowed to carry guns.

Only Americans cops use guns as soon as they feel threatened. I thought they received training to avoid such a case, but I guess not.

Source on this? My best friend is a police in Sweden, and he has made it very clear many times that he has all the right in the world to shoot someone if he judges his own life to be endangered, whether it's by gun or knife etc.

[Wells]

Another good time to remember that training for handling the mentally ill in the US isn't something cops always receive, but 25% of all violent altercations and 50% of all police shootings involve the mentally ill.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

In many other countries they would have subdued him with non-lethal force. Lethal force as the first response has gone too far in the US.

i cant speak for other countries but from what i've heard from police i know in Canada if some one comes at you with a knife you shoot them you don't take chances with your own life. one guy i know said the scariest part of being a cop for him was when a homeless man had a knife and he was really scared that he would have to shoot the man if he did'nt put it down.