15 year old Aspie boy shot and killed... by cops

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Here's a link to the article

http://www.carmitimes.com/topstories/x1 ... -Aspergers


Anyways, saw this on the news last night and thought I'd post it here. Apparently the boy had been in fights with police officers multiple times (at least one other time it included a knife).
The kid obviously had issues. I can't help but assume no one was really trying to help or understand the kid. But I can't really blame the cops either. If someone I knew was violent suddenly lunged at me with a knife and I had a gun on hand... Well I'd instinctively react in a "me or him" manner.

That's just my personal opinion, though. What do you guys think?

I blame the kid. The cops reacted as they've been trained to react, and the public knows this!

"Suicide by Cop" seems to be getting more popular these days.

Last edited by Fnord on 02 Feb 2012, 3:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

He was a threat to the safety and security of the public and to their personal safety also. The police were right to do as they did.

He attacked officers with a knife.

I think they could have handled the situation a little better (Tazer maybe?) but I don't blame them for shooting him, he was an armed threat who had expressed willingness to harm them.

I think the police have the right to defend themselves. The boy was a threat and he slashed one of them when he lashed out. The parents should have sent their boy away for help for his safety and theirs. I think being violent, they are heading for death because one day they might mess with the wrong person and get killed for self defense. Even when the parents don't send their violent kids away, they are at risk losing them because one day their kid will be shot or stabbed or whatever for self defense or possibly be killed by their own child.

I'm not entirely sure the police were wrong for defending themselves, but I think they were absolutely wrong for escalating it to that point, and demonstrated flat-out incompetence for getting themselves into the predicament that they did.

Personally, I'd fire them for incompetence. I wouldn't prosecute the officers for a crime, but I'd fully support allowing the family to sue the officers (for wrongful death) and police department (for failing to give its officers proper training to deal with autistic individuals).

The boy was absolutely wrong to attack the police (not to mention, a complete fsck'ing idiot), but I still can't help feeling that he was needlessly provoked and goaded into it by the police officers' impatience & culture of bullying. It's one thing to aggressively pursue & subdue somebody who just robbed a bank. It's another matter *entirely* to do it to a teen whose primary offense (before the officers escalated matters) was saying 'no'.

There is a thread I'm participating in on this very topic in the parents forum. Check it out if you want.

I believe there was more going on with him than AS though.

Way too soon to judge this. it only happened yesterday. Stories like this have a way of growing in detail over time. There could be a lot we don't know about what really happened there.

The family sure doesn't agree with most comments here. They may very well have good reason not to.

I don't know. Too soon. I'd rather wait for more details about this one.

It was actually a butter knife he had, not a kitchen knife according to his dad. One of the articles on this mentioned that and it's been posted in the parents discussion thread by one of the PPs.

I like this general approach and think this poster made some excellent points. ^^^

If they didn't want the kid shot, why would they call the cops? What can cops do that the parents can't besides shoot or tase or some other drastic measure?

The article linked did say the kid managed to cut an officer with whatever kind of knife he wielded, so if it was a butter knife, he was using it in such a way it actually cut someone.

What I have to wonder is...

This all started because the kid didn't want to go to school.

What's going on at school that he would be so dead set against going?

Something about going was distressing him enough to drive him to this behavior. Was the kid in therapy, and if not, why not? He should have been by this time. The cops had had to deal with him already in the past. If he was in therapy, or even if he wasn't, the first thing that should have been done was to offer to bring him to therapy right away. No school today, let's go talk about what's bothering you so much.

But, again, maybe the parents had already tried that. We don't know. We need to know a hell of a lot more about what's been going on the paper doesn't tell before reaching any conclusions IMHO.

The parents must have been having serious problems dealing with aspects of his behavior because they called police and said he was "sick." Might have been the type of situation where he needed to be removed from the home and put into a residential facility for a while.

Several cops could have grabbed him and physically put him on the ground and restrained him. That's what they could have done that the parents couldn't. They would have to get the knife away first or have him put it down. If he wouldn't put it down and there was no way to get to a place where they could take it, and simply stepping back wasn't an option because they were cornered, I can understand shooting. You risk getting cut or stabbed if you get close enough to taze someone. And a butter knife may not cut you very easily or badly, but it can sure stab you and do serious damage. The kid was big enough to be able to stab them with it. It wasn't sharp but neither is a screwdriver. You can kill with either with enough force and in the right spot. This is why I wonder where the rubber bullets were and how they allowed themselves to all be grouped together with no way out. If nothing else, and he wasn't harming himself, they should have backed off and called in a psychiatrist or something to try and talk to him.

So, I'd imagine the parents thought that the cops could physically take him down, and they didn't think about the damage that a butter knife can actually do besides cutting. I'm sure they feel such guilt right now. My heart does go out to them. Calling the cops on your kid isn't done lightly, and I imagine they saw it as their last resort. Well, it's not done lightly by most people, some people with serious attention seeking problems of their own would do it in a heartbeat, but I don't know if those parents were like that or not.

My impression, from what I read, is the parents were thinking the cops would be able to solve everything when what they really needed was to have him stay in a treatment facility. This was beyond the scope of the parents.

He went to school. I wonder how they handled him there?

That's why I think it was more than AS. Also, he was 15. Many 15yo's start experimenting with drugs. Not all, but many. I am not saying that he was or wasn't. Or that drugs had anything to do with it. However, you know it crossed the cops minds when he was acting so violent. That may be one reason that the cops shot instead of realizing that he was acting out and if they didn't come at him they probably wouldn't be hurt. They may have thought he was on something. Fifteen year old boy, violent a lot. Makes sense. He also had hormones going. He also may have had a lot going on. All we know is what the media put out there to get attention.

I also wonder how high functioning he was.

I'm sure more about this story will come out eventually.