Police in Idaho launched the recordings of security cameras and exhausted on Thursday that show the officers fatally shooting a Adolescent with a knife that pushes, intellectually disabled From the other side of a chain link fence, confirming that they did not make any effort to decline the situation before opening fire.
Victor Pérez was autistic and nonverbal and had cerebral palsy, although there are no indications that the officers who responded were aware of that. The 17 -year -old was removed from the life support and died in a hospital a week after the shooting, and a law firm said Wednesday that he intends to present a Federal Federal Death Costume Against the city of Pocatello on behalf of his family.
Pérez was in a confrontation in his courtyard with family members who tried to move the blade on April 5 when a neighbor called 911, informing that a man apparently intoxicated armed with a knife, Pérez, who walked with a stepped step due to his disabilities, pursued people in the courtyard.
Pérez had fallen and was on the ground when the officers arrived. Armed drawn, they shouted repeatedly: “Release the knife!” But instead he stood up and began to move towards them. Three officers opened fire with their guns, while a room shot a shotgun of bean bags, the authorities said on Thursday.
The shots arrived only a few seconds after the officers left their vehicles.
The launch of the city’s videos included text slides that emphasized that Pérez was approaching the officers, who were on the other side of a link fence of him, while holding the knife, and that he was near two family members behind him.
“If Pérez had a medical condition or was experiencing a mental health crisis, he was not provided to the office or the known officers,” said a slide.
The shooting has outraged community members who questioned why the officers fired without trying to learn more about the situation, using decallation techniques or using less lethal force. About 200 people attended a vigil on Saturday morning outside the Hospital de Pocatello, where Pérez died, and another multitude of protesters met that afternoon outside the City of Pocatello, which also houses the police department.
Police chief Roger Schei and Mayor Brian Blad refused to answer questions about the shooting, citing an investigation by the Task Force of Critical Incidents of East Idaho. The names of the officers have not been released.
The officials responsible for enforcing the law say that it is not always appropriate for the police to use de -escalation techniques, especially when there is a danger to the officers or the public or if a subject does not comply with the orders.
But the experts in surveillance that have reviewed the video of the Pérez’s shot cell phone noticed that there was a fence between the officers and the adolescent, who used the lethal force instead of the Tasers and that they could not use the basic tactics of backing to create space between them and Pérez.
Brad Andrés, who recorded a video of the shooting on his phone after his son called 911, said the police “seemed to be like a death squad or a shooting squad.”
“They never asked once: ‘What is the situation, how can we help?'” He said. “They ran with their drawn weapons, triggered a person with mental disabilities to react and when he reacted … they shot him.”
