Radio: 32-62 Radio: We're getting information that she may be around this location... Radio: 370 on the way. Ernie: Ok, who's he? Who are these people? Officer: Uh, this is her husband. Ernie: Hey, how you doing? Hey. Officer Stevens. Ernie. Louis: Louis Ernie: Hey Louis, my partner Gabe. Gabe: Hello sir. Ernie: How long has she been acting this way? Louis: It's been since Saturday. She just believes that I'm having an affair and that I
have a woman that I've gotten pregnant in our ceiling. Hiding. Ernie: I'm sorry you're having a bad day. Woman: It's been the past four days. Ernie: Past four days have been bad? Woman: Yes sir. Ernie: Ok, well, we're here because we don't want you to have any more bad days. Right? We want to get you some help. In the police academy we had no training on what it was like to deal with someone that was mentally ill or in a crisis. I was probably the last
officer that you wanted to help a loved one that was in a mental health crisis. Woman: She's watching us sleep. And I told him I could be in the living room I can hear y'all's whole conversation. Ernie: So you actually hear this girl... Woman: I hear both of them. Ernie: Okay. But now in the mental health unit every single call we're responding to is a mental health crisis. Ernie: I'm not sure, do you hear her right now as we're talking? Woman: He's talking to her... Ernie: He's talking to her? Cause he's actually out by... Woman: If you want to go to my room over here... Ernie: You want me to go to your room? Woman: I just don't want to say it loud because he's gonna shut up. Ernie: Are you hearing? You hearing it right now? Cause I don't... Woman: He's telling her, I need her here. Ernie: Ok I don't hear anything. I'm sorry. I don't. I'm just being honest with you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not saying that I don't believe that you
don't hear him. I believe it is very real for you. I just don't hear anything right now. Woman: I don't want to go anywhere. Ernie: I know you don't. Woman: I didn't do nothing wrong. Ernie: You're right. You didn't do anything wrong. Woman: I'm getting kicked out of my own house because somebody don't come out. Ernie: You're extremely agitated right
now and stressed out. Woman: I'm fine. I'm just broken. I'm shattered. My whole heart is shattered. Ernie: Okay, you're using words like shattered and broken, okay, if you were my sister, okay, there's no way I would leave you in this condition.
There's no way. Officer: Drop that for me. Officer: Drop it! Officer: Drop it! Jon: More conservative estimates say that those suffering from a mental illness account for almost 1/4 of all fatalities involving law enforcement. This slide identifies
every single officer-involved shooting. All of those that are identified in red
showed some sign of mental illness. Is there a crisis in the United States when
it comes to mental health issues? Absolutely. Joe: People with mental illness are overrepresented in every aspect of the criminal justice system. So I work on a specialized unit that only deals with
people in a mental health crisis. Almost everything about how I respond to calls
goes against what most would believe. I'm in plainclothes. I drive an unmarked car. My weapon is concealed. And for the last nine years the only weapon that I've used is my ability to communicate. Tre: No, I'm a police officer just like him. I don't want to say we do unconventional policing. We just approach certain situations differently. Woman: No, no. Woman: I know you do. James: You know you're going to deal with someone in crisis that night. You know that someone's gonna need your help. Ernie: San Antonio police, are you okay? Chris: Police have a misconception of mental health. Alma: I want the old Chris. Those voices just have
total control of him. He don't trust anybody. Mr. Crump: Mental illness is not unique to the United States of America. What is unique is this dynamic of unarmed citizens being killed by the people who are
supposed to protect and serve us. Marketta: Is that the first thing that they think of is to pull their weapon and shoot somebody? No one with mental illness deserves to
die because they're already dying inside. Suffering. Joe: We have to change the way culturally that we look at how we succeed in police work. I have an opportunity every single time I'm called to change somebody's perspective. [Music] James: There was an incident that happened in Memphis Tennessee with a young man who was fatally shot during an encounter
with police and he had mental illness and the department in Memphis realized that there needed to be a program to deal with these types of folks. How to interact with somebody with a mental illness. How to talk to somebody with a mental illness. It prompted police department across the nation to start to deal with those folks in our community. [Music] There are a lot of folks that are locked
up in prison. They have an underlying mental health issue.
Our goal is to try to keep these folks out of jail. James: We got some updates saying that he was asking someone to shoot him? Who is he telling that to? James: Well here's the thing Christopher you've got a lot of people here because they're concerned about some things you said. That's why we're out here. James: Do you hit walls when you get upset? James: Right there? You did that today? Tre: If a police officer feels that you're an imminent threat to yourself we can detain you to see a doctor. That's essentially what an emergency
detention is. James: I'm gonna be honest with you man. I'm a straight shooter with you. I think we need to go back to the hospital tonight. Tre: It's not an arrest. Even though we put
handcuffs on you if we have to. It doesn't go on arrest record. The police
report is protected by HIPAA so you have privacy rights. James: Christopher you made threats to shoot yourself. James: Okay, I'm going to go get some shoes for you, okay. I'll be back. Joe: The choice of you deciding if we're gonna go or not go that's been removed. You're gonna go. How we leave here is up
to you. Where we go is up to you. If you have a facility you'd like to go to tell
me. James: I can't I can't... We're gonna make a phone call and see what we can get you. Joe: If you want to fight and me call more people and we have to carry you out and break half your stuff in the house then let's
do it. I don't want to do that and you know you don't want to do that. James: You didn't do anything wrong. James: We just don't want the wrong response to come out here because you're punching holes and stuff. Tre: We're just gonna close the door nice and slow. Okay? Yes sir.
[Music] Tre: I think that ended up going really well. He went from 100 to 0, not 0 to 100. James: Okay sir. Let's go and walk through
this single door over here and then we'll get you right to the ER. Okay? Perfect. Tre: See. I told you we'd get you to an ER. James: I get frustrated with the system and
the fact that there's just not enough resources for a mental health. And it's
frustrating because it's become a police matter. Because it has become a police matter
we're expected to fix the situation. The reality is we can't fix every
situation. Jon: From 1955 to 1977 the number of people in state hospitals suffering from mental illness dropped from 75% to 7%. What happened to all those people? Where did they go? I mean they just didn't disappear. When
they were released from the hospitals they were released to the community.
Problem was there was no groundwork for it. There was no local mental health
authority. We moved them from the state hospitals to the penal system which now
became the largest provider of mental health services in the country. Basically what happened with deinstitutionalization was the people that were in the hospitals were released into the society and told to fend for yourself. [Music] Chris: And I hate when they put messages and little writings and sayings and crap like on my head just because they want to
play around and make fun of me. They put sensors in me and stuff to make
me shake and wobble like if I'm wired or something. And I'm not. [Music] Martha: The police have come here several times and they know Christopher on a
first-name basis and they also know me on a first-name basis because of the
amount of times that they've gone over to the home. Chris: She's the one making my life
worse and miserable. Her and my grandma they're the worst people ever. The doctors said I was bipolar depressive and major depressive. They labeled me schizophrenic because of the hearing aids they put in me. And I barely got
labeled schizophrenic because of these. Martha: I just saw that. That just happened last night. It's a burn from the lighter. So I don't like him you know
with matches or with any kind of lighters. Alma: I want the old Chris. Alma: Yeah. The one we used to have fun. Alma: Chris is a great guy. He is funny. He's generous and for him to go through all this it hurts. You know these voices just took over his
whole life. He don't trust anybody. Chris: I see a picture that looks like a man
and not my grandma. That's not my grandma. Take off the hair that's a man. Female filmmaker: Chris I'm wondering - are you okay
that I'm filming you? Chris: I don't mind. I don't mind. I'll let you do this. It don't
bother me because I need to get this off my chest. Female filmmaker: I asked him if it was okay if I filmed and he said: "yeah, you can film, I need to get this off my chest" Martha: Oh he did? Okay well then good. Thank you. There's a lot of heartless people here. A lot. Or maybe a lot of people that just aren't educated enough as to the illness.
They don't have the medication to calm them down so they act erratic and you,
you, wouldn't know that unless you were told. Like I told him - I said someone's gonna
you know hurt you. You know they might not know that you're not all there and
you can get hurt just like that boy that was in Houston. They really didn't
understand what he was going through. News reporter: Cellphone video that surfaced
shows Thomas walking towards the deputy with his pants around his ankles. The
deputy had ordered Thomas to stop and when he continued forward the deputy
shot and killed Thomas. It was found that Thomas did not have a weapon.
Deputy Brewer was carrying a taser at the time of the shooting but didn't use
it. Sheriff Gonzalez: Any loss of life is always of serious serious concern. From his immediate
actions it looked like something was going on, some kind of crisis situation
was happening at the time with him. Thomas had a history of mental illness.
Marketta Thomas says her brother was having trouble dealing with a family
tragedy. His wife stands accused of drowning
their two children. Marketta: You could have tased him. You clearly could have tased him. He wasn't trying to hit you, he wasn't trying to shoot you, he wasn't trying to do anything. Marketta: Danny lived with me here. I got his
clothes over there in the bucket. I haven't touched that because how it's
folded in there is exactly how he folded it. I wear some of his stuff just
to kind of like feel close to him. Marketta: That day of the shooting, like, I was
inside Walmart five to ten minutes away from the location. I just get this phone call -
they're like your brother's in trouble your brother's going to jail. And I hear
these people in the background like screaming screaming screaming. I'm just like
what is, like, is it that serious? Like what's going on? And then I
get like this real horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I just felt like my whole
spirit lost my body that day. I just felt so empty and numb. My whole life
changed. We grew up together. We were very close. We kept each other on track for like so long and I think he kind of like put his feelings aside and his emotions
aside to make sure that I was okay. He always wanted to be tough and put on
that exterior, like okay, but he went through a traumatic experience losing
his kids and deep down inside like he was broken. Marketta: How's school? I want to tell you about this jacket. It's too hot. Sean: Oh, come on. Marketta: Hi Mila. Sean: It's my jacket! Marketta: How's school? Mila: Good. Marketta: Since everything happened with his uncle Danny he's just, you know, his schoolwork has taken a little bit. I think he's trying to still
process it. [Music] Mr. Crump: Statistics bear out that if you're
mentally ill and you're black that you already have two strikes against you
when you encounter law enforcement. Just because you are having a mental ill crisis
does not mean you should encounter the death penalty executed by a police
officer on a street corner. We will be looking at the training of
this deputy as well. Marketta: I just hope and pray that my brother's life is justified and not swept under the rug. No one with mental illness deserves to die because they're
already dying inside suffering. I'm asking you to please give my brother
justice and his children. [Music] Ernie: I would venture to say that at some
point somebody that has a mental illness has been mistreated by law enforcement.
Is that a fair statement? Absolutely it is. Our job is to try to change that on
our side. Okay? Our job is to try to break the stigma,
try to teach better skills, try to teach better outcomes. Jon: My goal here is that no
one in this room ends up as the next viral YouTube sensation. When you go out
and you handle a consumer that's in crisis and you talk to them and you
de-escalate them and you put them in your car is that gonna end up on YouTube?
No. Nobody wants to see that. They want to see those first responders that get out
there and yell and scream and go hands-on and fight with them. That's what
ends up on YouTube. [Music] James: Today we're gonna talk about active
listening, how that applies to you, what you guys do every day. All of us in here have made a mental health or a mental disturbance call at some point. Communication is a basic tactical skill in crisis intervention. Tre: Crisis intervention training, it trains you to recognize when someone is in crisis. When
you recognize there's a mental health component and instead of just grabbing
them tacking to the ground you're trying to talk to them and get them to get help. James: My homeroom teacher called y'all man? I'm sorry she wasted y'all's time man. You know what? I made one silly comment earlier, just kind of venting, and she took it way too far. James: Couple weeks ago, man, I slid in to
second and shattered my ankle in several places so I just found out today I lost my
scholarship. I had a full scholarship to go play ball. I have no backup plan like
that was it. Go to college play ball go pro. That was it. And all I said was you
know what I just wish I was dead. You know that what's the point of living I
can't play baseball no more. James: Good job man! When we get in a situation where we're suicidal we get tunnel vision so all I kept thinking about was my failure I was think about myself. I wasn't even
thinking about my mom. So you're giving me options to kind of get me out of that
phase man. And you can't tell me what what's best for me as far as a plan. I'm
gonna have to figure that out. But like you said you're giving me some options to start
thinking about. So that was good. In order to get anybody to do anything you
ask them to do you got to build some type of rapport. If it's done properly
it's reassuring and you're gonna establish an understanding about the
person that you're dealing with. Student: Is something bothering you at work?
Something going on at work? Joe: I don't know what you want from me. I didn't do anything wrong. Student: No you... Joe: I chose... Joe: Can I talk? Student: Yes, sir. Joe: Thank you. You'd ask me a question. It's a good open-ended question and I'm giving you an answer and as I'm talking you would interrupt me to ask me something else and completely throw me off. I know your intentions are good. I know that you are you're trying to get to the bottom of it but it feels like you're trying to rush to the cause
because you want to fix it. Tre: There's a difference between when you hear somebody and you're listening to them. Hearing is an action and listening is a
process. Tre: Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up. You're not the FBI I called the FBI last Tuesday and they weren't there. Tre: I've seen you before. You're part of that red light team back in the 20's. I remember you. Tre: You ever notice that there are little focuses? When you get that window of like somebody's paying attention to you can you say focus on me focus on me. Ernie: Christopher Lopez! Joe: CIT is great. It's 40 hours. I think 40 hours of mental health training in a police academy that is seven and a half months long isn't long enough. I
think we should do six to eight weeks of training. I think we should spend a vast
majority of our time perfecting communication and then you can spend a
little bit of time training them on how to shoot your gun because most officers
go their entire career never doing that. Tre: Hey that was a real call that I went on. They get interesting.
[Music] James: And does he have a mental health
diagnosis of any sorts like James: And is he taking his
medications as prescribed or does he have access to any? James: Is he making any type of suicidal statements or statements to harm other people as well? James: Is he hearing voices or seeing things that aren't there, experiencing those type of hallucinations? James: ok. Tre: Again my name is Trey so what you're telling me Chris is these
people are beating you up right there, they're putting charges on you,
they're stealing your SIM cards. How long has it been going on? Tre: Nine years? That's that's a lot of stress man. You look a little tired Chris. Tre: So Chris what we'd like
to do tonight, Chris, is is take you... Tre: I do respect that you know you don't want to go anywhere but unfortunately Chris you know... Tre: You do have a
choice in how you go okay... We don't want to put you in handcuffs... Tre: don't want you to get hurt. I don't want to get hurt. Okay? Tre: Okay. We have to go. James: Just relax man, just relax... James: Just relax man, just relax, just relax... Just relax. [Groans] Tre: Relax Chirs, relax. Tre: I don't want to hurt you man. Officer: We don't want to hurt you. Okay? Alright. [Screams] Tre: Alright Chris. Ok. We just want to see you get in front of a doctor. Okay? Tre: Yes. Serrano. Officer: Watch your step guys. Chris: Get Tre arrested! Tre: We just want to see you get help man. That's all it was. All right Chris. James: Let me get MEDCOM added and we'll get him going. Tre: See that's why I do Jiu-Jitsu man. Then I don't have to use that much force just get his hands and that's it. He was strong. Officer: My concern was the dog... James: Officer Williams 1725. Was calling to see if we
could take a patient to the hospital he is a bit combative. Having some
mental decompensation. Tre: I know we had to take him to the ground but I was just trying not to hurt him make sure he didn't hurt us. Tre: Yes ma'am yes ma'am.
usually when he goes to the hospital Tre: I don't think they'll release him in the
morning. Even though we took her son to the ground even though we had to use force to put him into handcuffs then basically lift him and carry him out of
the house she still thanked me for the way I talked to him and that is the
bread and butter of why we do what we do is because these people are not
criminal. They just, they have an illness. I guarantee you he won't remember us though. James: No he won't he was so
decompensated. Tre: But the family will for sure. Tre: Chris, I respect that you don't wanna be
here man I know you don't want to be here. Chris: No, if you were to respect and you would have left
me alone. Tre: But we're just trying to get you some help man. Chris: No
you're not, no you're not. Tre: For somebody that said you should have left him there. Why have a conflict and fight him on the ground to get him into the hospital when you could
have just left him there. My response is he's not getting any
better if anything he's gonna get worse and when mental illnesses get worse
their delusions get larger and they get more vivid. That is way too much of a
potential for other people to get hurt [Music] Tre: Okay just relax Chris. We're almost. Get you into a room and get you settled. James: Hello. Alright. Tre: Alright Chris. Just relax man. [Beep] [Music] Marketta: We're headed back to the DA's office to
see where we're at in the process of the case. I'm hoping they give me some
answers and not you know yet again like we're doing the best that we can. I just
don't feel too confident in a lot of things that law enforcement is doing.
Officers are protected to the fullest extent by law enforcement.
I feel like this guy's still being protected even though he's not employed
with law enforcement anymore. Marketta: I know it was hard for you I know it's hard for you Sean but he thought
uncle Danny was gonna harm him he. Marketta: We know uncle Danny didn't mean no harm we
know. We know uncle Danny was not that type of guy. We don't know what was going
on with Cameron. Why did he take a broken man's life. Right now my job is to
prepare you guys for the world out there because it's not gonna be easy for you
and I say you because of the color of your skin. And this is very hurtful for
me because my son wanted to be a police officer. Now he says mom I don't want to
be that police officer that kills people like they did my uncle Danny. He said
that he don't he don't want to harm innocent people Joe: You can break down every deadly force
encounter in this country with law enforcement - it all comes down to in that
moment that officer was afraid and they reacted some overreacted. [Music] Jon: Am I gonna sit up here and tell you that
when you deal with somebody that's in crisis that we're not gonna use force on
them that we can talk everybody down absolutely not.
Let's be honest there are some people that we need to go hands-on with there
are some people that need to be tased and the reality is that unfortunately
it's some people need to be shot. Ernie: Alright, let's go see how you do. A lot of people don't know how police departments are trained. We are trained to shoot to stop the
threat. Hey! Put the gun down! Put the gun down! Put it down! Put it down! Don't do it! Don't do it! Don't do it! Put it down! Put it down! We are not trained to shoot somebody in the leg. We're not trained to shoot the knife out of your hand. I'm sorry this is not an episode of TJ
Hooker this is real life. Actor: Watch me and everything that I do. I'm so sick and tired of you guys. Gabe: Just want to talk to you. Put the knife down. Actor: What are you going to do? Ernie: Relax! Just put, put the knife down. Actor: Ok. Ok. I'll do whatever you want. I don't like it. I'll do it. Ernie: Thank you. You know if you're if you're not
protecting yourself or somebody else you could be killed that day. Officer: It could go the other way too. Here we go. Do it the other way now. Actor: What are you going to do? Ernie: You're not in trouble. Put the knife down. Actor: I'm so sick and tired of you guys. Ernie: Put the knife down! Actor: What are you going to do? I don't want anymore of your crap! Yeah. That's what I'm talking about! [Shots] Interviewer: It seems like a contradiction like what you
have to do on a daily basis you find your hip have the power to end someone's
life but yet what you're trying to do is save someone's life. And so uh. Those are. You know like how do you... Tre: So I think me walking into a situation, I have the power to I guess essentially end
someone's life. But I don't see this as something to end somebody's life I see
this as a tool to stop a threat and I think just from training and constant
courses I always see I see a firearm as a tool to stop a threat so I think once
it becomes that language it's not so much that I look at a person... I don't... I
want... I think I was gonna say I don't look as a person as a person... I do see
them as a person but I I'm more so just I you know I I think I just put on my
cop hat and see people as... I don't know... I don't know how to answer that. Joe: The reality is that if we wake up we can't
undo what's been done law enforcement is very much involved in
the front lines of people at their worst in a crisis. Should the rules of engagement change because someone is mentally ill? Ernie: Gun gun gun! Put the gun
down Marcus! Get to cover! Get to cover! Put it down! Actor: Back off! Ernie: We will. Just put the gun down so we can talk to you. Marketta: If I had a family member that was going through a mental breakdown I would not call the police I would not. Ernie: I can talk to you better if you put the gun down. Let's just talk about this for a second. You're alright. Actor: Leave me alone! Ernie: You're ok! Marketta: Knowing what I know now. Why would you when you know what they're capable of doing. Ernie: It's ok Marcus. Gabe: We just wanna help you Marcus. Put the gun down. Let's help you. [Music] Jon: Why do we have a crisis with mental
health? It's money like everything else. Texas is 48th in the nation when it
comes to mental health spending. If you have an unfunded patient with no
insurance who pays for that? You can't expect the private agencies to
pay for it without support and still survive because there's a lot of people
with mental illness with no insurance but let's be honest that takes money.
There's got to be money available. Spending for mental health services has
continually been cut. These are all the different things that have led up to why
we're seeing an increase in the number of calls we get why we're dealing with
people with mental crisis. [Music] Ernie: Hey brother, this is the SARIC BOLO that went out for the guy that threatened to shoot police officers. I've
got a couple officers coming with me in plainclothes. Alright so the backstory on this guy is he posted a bunch of stuff on
Facebook. This post right here: "I was thinking you know if I was willing to
kill a cop today you know what's gonna happen". He posted a picture of himself
holding a gun with his birthday and then his R.I.P rest in peace date of it being
2018. Okay. We'll approach him. I'll tell him keep his just his hands up and once he's
clear then we're gonna just build rapport with him. If he has a weapon
inside the apartment we're gonna go ahead and do a seizure on that weapon.
His mom informed us that he has bipolar disorder and that really he just needs
help. I hope he remains calm. Gabe: There he is. Ernie: Yup, yup, yup. Ernie: So he's got his hands in front of him. Good. Ernie: Hey Larry.
I'm the one you talked to on the phone Me and my partner Gabe. Okay. Gabe: Hey Larry. I'm Gabe. Ernie: Ok. No weapons on you right now? Larry: No, no sir. Ernie: Do you mind if we check? Ok, just a phone. Your mental health - where have you received treatment in the past? Ernie: Because your mom said that was part of the struggle is that you're having
difficulty and seeing a doctor because money is an issue and all that. Ernie: But what we saw was the threats were
really a cry for help. I mean that's what that was I was you asking for help. How
long have you been feeling like this? Ernie: Okay. Childhood trauma? Ernie: Your mom told us a little bit okay? That's a lot to deal with man. Unresolved trauma it's a beast man. We actually have
clinicians and therapists that work directly with our unit so it's very easy
for us to get you to see a doctor. Okay? This is no different from you going
to the doctor and saying hey I got a sore throat. All we're saying is hey I'm
having some sore thoughts right now and I need help with that. Okay? It's the same
thing. I'm glad that we got to intervene before you know this became serious. Ernie: Because we want to help you man. I mean
it. I don't want you feeling like this. Gabe: We're going to call MEDCOM and find out where we're gonna take him and then we'll go from there. Ernie: You look at parkland
over in Florida, the FBI had information Facebook posts that this kid had made these threats. Thank goodness that there's a program
like this in place where somebody captured what he said and didn't just
say oh my goodness threat look out send a SWAT team in to get this guy. It's hey
there's some mental health issues. Let's send in mental health and offer services
to him because he's going to get a lot better services going to mental health
than going to jail. [Music] Martha: The officers advised me when they left
here that they were going to take him to the mental health unit to get evaluated
and that he would get the assistance that he needed. The following morning the
nurse contacted me and said that he had told her he was not ill. He didn't need
any medication and he refused services and he was ready to go home. I asked her
you know isn't there anything you can do you know to keep him you know to make
sure he gets some kind of medical assistance some kind of medication to
calm him down to you know make the voices go away and she says no as long
as he refuses services they can't help him. And so he walked out of there and
walked home. [Music] Alma: I love. This is the picture I love of Chris. Where is it? That's how Chris looked. Filmmaker: Oh wow. He's a lot thinner now. Martha: Yeah, it's taking a toll on him.
Alma: Yeah he's changed a lot. Look at that smile on his face. Chris: That's my sweatshirt but that's a different man. Filmmaker: Who's that? Chris: That's supposed to be me
but that's not me. Alma: This picture was taken here maybe a few years ago. Martha: I never noticed any signs of the bipolar schizophrenic until maybe about five six
years ago. Chris: I know these people these faces aren't my family or my sister but these faces are the faces of the death because there's always something hidden
in background. Alma: Everything reminds me of him. Because I honestly didn't see my life without him. Happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday dear Christopher happy birthday to you. Filmmaker: So Chris right now we're making a
documentary. You know that right? Chris: Yes. Yes Sir. Filmmaker: You remember when we talked about this? Yeah. And I didn't sign the papers. Yeah. Filmmaker: And you're ok with us? Chris: Right now I'm ok with you filming this yeah, because this is a lot to get off my chest. I think police have a misconception of mental health. Police don't understand people with the mental illness because they see a
conception of somebody that is a threat to them. Chris: That's bullsh-t, I didn't do sh-t. My thing is that when they arrested me they used too much force. Get your hands out of my pockets! Tre: We've just got to search you before you get into the police car. Chris: Nah! This is all fake! This is all fake! Look, if somebody's calm and collected and
telling you get the hell out of my house cause you don't really belong here at all,
don't come at him roughly. Tre: We just want to get you in front of a doctor. Okay Chris? Chris: I'm fine. I don't need a doctor. I need people to stop f---ing with me. Try and soothe them down in order to figure out
what's wrong with them. If he starts agitating or angry you just calm down
and say: "Okay well maybe we could talk it out. Is there something bothering you we
could talk about?" I didn't need help I needed them to stop bugging me [Music] Marketta: How do I forgive this police officer for taking my brother cause I know my brother was going through something and I know it wasn't his fault and when
people say like you're gonna be alright you're gonna be alright like I'm never
gonna be alright for a long time cause I don't feel a connection with nobody like I did with
Danny. I want somebody to reach out to me like hey are you okay like do you need
me like do you need to talk to me like whatever. I don't get that man. I just
feel so alone man like it's so hard. Lisa: You're a leader. You have been given a lot and
when I say that I mean knowledge and wisdom so there will always be much more
expected of you more than you even want to give. Now that's not to say you won't
get tired but Marketta get your second wind, dust yourself off baby and get up
and go again. It has not being in vain, Marketta. I promise you it has not been
in vain. Marketta: Like in the black community some of us
feel like we don't need help to cope with what we know we need help with
because we don't want people to presume like we're crazy or like we're less than
human. That's gonna take a toll on you mentally. Cousin: Turn sideways. Cousin: You fired. Man behind camera: Oooh, I’m seein them gold teeth... [Laughter] Marketta: If I show you a sign of weakness then you would think I'm weak. It's like a revolving door and we don't want that door no more. We don't want that cycle. We don't. Ernie: A mental health call came in. The Navy
Department is calling in on a welfare check on a twenty-nine-year-old who is messaging
other sailors that he's thinking of hurting himself and ending it all. They
said there may be weapons in the house The last message they got was about an
hour ago from him. I don't have much details about what happened. Just that you sent some text messages out that were concerning. Can you talk to me about
that? Vet: It's not a good time of year. Like I lost my mom on my last deployment in 2015. Ernie: I'm sorry Vet: And I wasn't able to say goodbye or anything like that. So I'm like a combat vet. There's like zero decompression time from
Afghanistan through another deployment and then getting home. Ever since my mom
died I've always you know been like you know what I don't really want to be here
anymore. I've been working through it and the fact that you know reached out to
people was a huge step for me and you know I told people in the text message you
know I might not come back. Ernie: What do you mean by "I might not come
back." Vet: I'm like you know I might consider hurting myself or killing myself while I was out here. Like I discussed with her before I came out here and it was just something on my mind and stuff like that and nothing real like hey how you gonna
do it like let's go buy a gun and put it and... Nothing like that. Ernie: So no plan? Vet: No, no. Ernie: Just thoughts, fleeting thoughts? Vet: So just, um... Ernie: Okay. I appreciate you being being honest. Do you have concerns right now for Christopher? Woman: Yes. Ernie: Okay. What? What are your concerns? Woman: I just worry that one day he's not just gonna be upset and he's going to do something and I'm going to lose him. Ernie: Are you worried that he's in that state of mind right now? Woman: I didn't know how bad work had gotten. He had closed me out to that. Ernie: So you've never been diagnosed with depression, PTSD? Vet: Just PTSD. I have super
vivid nightmares. And I've lost four... No it's five, five of my
Marines in the last calendar year to suicide. And then one of my buddies
said I went to Afghanistan with, his wife just out of the blue killed herself. Ernie: It's 22 a day. You know that right? It's 22 veterans a day and I don't want you to be a statistic man. I do not want that. I want to make the right choice. You know. I want us to make the right choice for you on your
well-being. Okay? So I got to know 100%, are you
thinking of suicide today? No? Will you call me if things change Vet: I will. Ernie: Promise? I just want to make sure that you're not gonna be
overwhelmed. You feel comfortable in this situation right now? Woman: And I'm not afraid to call for help if I need to. Ernie: You've seen your fair share of trauma for sure being a corpsman. We get that asked all the time, you know, who checks on you guys? Woman: Nobody. Ernie: We kind of check on each other. [Music] Chris: I know she's not my mom I know for a fact she's not my mom. I
know that's not my grandma for a fact. They want someone to take control of my
system and nobody's gonna take control my system. I got my key right here. I move the house. I move everything. I'm me. I'm the
only one. Everybody thinks I'm crazy. Martha: That's not our stuff. Chris put that stuff away that's not
ours. Martha: They're not ours. Martha: Not in my name. Martha: Alright Chris, that's enough. Martha: You really need to stop. No you don't. That's enough. Martha: Yeah I did. Martha: Hell yeah I did. Martha: Excuse you.
You know what you need to stop right now. Martha: Go walk outside so we can call the
police on you. Okay? Go on. Martha: Well then leave Christopher. Chris: No, you leave my house! Martha: That's enough. Filmmaker: What's your biggest fear? Martha: That, that, he, uhm, that he hurts someone. [Music] Alma: I really don't like to think about it. I mean I even kept things for my kids that they don't know about that he did to me
because I didn't want them to hate him for something that he didn't have
control of. Once he said the voices told him something, I don't know. Well
I had a different necklace and he got my necklace and he was choking me and I had
the marks. I called Martha and I told her I go "please come, he choked me and
I'm scared." I was never scared of him until that
time and so she ended up calling the police but I didn't let the cops see my neck. I had, I put on my hoodie, I covered my myself. Chris: I'm not a violent man towards anybody, unless it's self-defense. Filmmaker: So we've spent two nights now going back with Chris. Tre: Uh-huh. How's he doing? Filmmaker: Not good. And I'm pretty sure the night after you guys were there he was released the next morning. Tre: Holy-moly. James: I can't believe they released him that quickly. Do you tell me this person is safe after
one day to go back to his mom after he's already believing his mom is not his mom. Tre: And his mom is dead. James: And his mom is dead. This person is a threat to him that he may harm. That's crazy. Now here's the thing, what if he did go
home that night and killed his mom? Who's responsible for that? The hospital. Tre: That's where they fail people. We do an efficient job for what we have to get
them to the hospital. But you know, we're not treatment facilities we're a police
department and he's still not well he needs extended treatment he needs some
kind of follow-up care or inpatient care. Now he's back out and and still really
really decompensated. Now you're gonna put more officers you know in danger
because this person doesn't know what their actions can potentially do. James: So the call we're going to, the lady is calling saying she's having thoughts to kill her
mother's dog. This has been going on for six months. She's diagnosed with PTSD and
bipolar and she is taking medication daily and she'll be waiting at the door
for officers when they get there. No weapons. James: You did the right thing by calling
us tonight. That's the first step. Woman: Yeah, you get little hiccups even
though you think you're cured. You never are. I've been ran around so much through the system sadly. Tre: Put through the system, what do
you mean by that? Woman: My mother has helped me to try to stay
in but they just let you go. I've been ignored like I said so many times. They
didn't care. James: So you've been ignored more than you'd like to? Woman: Oh yeah, I've even been threatened. Either you take your medications or you're going to get shot up
with the needle. A doctor even told me and looked in my face told me just take
was you're supposed to and then you'll get out. At one point I had about $2,000 worth of
medications and I only made like $600 a month. [Music] Tre: The mental hospitals, why aren't they
doing their job? They have one job and that's to stabilize patients. We have
like eight jobs. Joe: CIT is fantastic but it's one cog of the wheel. Right? If I have a
person who's in crisis out there on the street and I go out there and deescalate
them and I don't use force and then I take them to whatever facility
throughout that city, the sad reality is a hundred percent of how that person is
treated is dependent on who that person is and what insurance they have. If
they're indigent and they don't have any insurance and they have no capacity to
pay that bill at all they're gonna be "stabilized" very very quickly and they're
gonna get released and then they're usually gonna go back to the same
situation. Now you're gonna have that same officer dealing with them again two
days later. We don't have enough resources in Bexar County for the amount
of problem that's out there not even close. James: These people are gonna come out at some
point and the reality is that they don't have good paying jobs. They don't
have insurance. How are they going to afford medications? Follow-up services? You're
dealing with somebody who doesn't have transportation. Doesn't have a good
paying job or a job at all. These are the expectations that we have to think about
outside of the mental health facility. Martha: He has to sign a release in order for me to get
any kind of information. He never signs anything. He never wants anyone to know what meds he's taking or where he has to go or what appointments. Chris: They want me to
be mentally incompetent. That's the whole thing. They want me to be mentally incompetent in order from my mom to have co-sign of everything. To get what they
want. Chris: Yes, Grandma. Bertha: I feel very sad to see him in this condition. Very sad. I pray for him on a daily basis. And I pray that he gets well. Alma: Sometimes I just
wish, I wish it's just a nightmare. I just wish I could just wake up and he could be back
to the way he was. Even without me I wouldn't care as long as I know he was better. I'd be happy. So all we can do is just watch him waste away. Martha: I know a lot of people say well he's 35, let him
go, let him figure it out himself but put yourself in my shoes if it was your
child what would you do? I mean I know a lot of people say
tough love but this is a disease this is not you know because they're being
resentful. They're not cognizant of what they're doing so you can't say tough
love. [Music] District Attorney: Today the 176 grand jury of Harris County indicted former deputy Cameron Brewer for the fatal shooting of Danny Thomas an
unarmed civilian. Brewer now faces five to ninety-nine years or up to life in prison
as a result of this charge. Any time a life is lost it's important to us at the
Harris County District Attorney's Office but when it happens at the hand of a
government official in a free country it creates even greater concern and emotion
among family members and the rest of the community. He was fired from the Harris
County Sheriff's Office for failing to apply the training that he had been
provided using less than deadly force against somebody who was clearly unarmed. When the government takes a life it
matters how we respond. We responded by presenting all the evidence to a grand
jury and they responded with a true bill. And we're going to prosecute. Thank you all. Marketta: I can't even stand like standing here right now. [Music] Marketta: We just pray to God the cop that shot uncle Danny
that he's brought to justice, right? Marketta: Will Cameron go to hell?
What you think? Marketta: An eleven-year-old who who doesn't
understand death and why people kill other people but is so fast and
willing to forgive is mind-blowing cause I'm not ready to forgive but my son is
so ready to forgive. Marketta: You got to go that way. Oh you got skills now. Go long Sean! Maybe this is my calling. Maybe this is God's bittersweet way of telling me like hey this is what I think you should be doing. Go! Being a voice for somebody else that feels like their voice isn't strong enough. Chris: I think the public
misunderstands mental illness as disease you could contact and touch
and it'll just go at you. No. You have to get to know 'em. If you don't feel the emotions that they went through then you shouldn't be judging another person. You don't lower each other. I love you. I love you. This is my grandma. This is my grandma. This is my real grandma. Jon: We got to get away from that stigma. Having a mental illness does not mean that we
can't function in society. It does not mean that we're crazy. People with mental
illness are more likely to be victims of crime than to actually be the ones to
commit it. James: Is the system perfect? By all means no it's not. Tre: Hey buddy. [toddler sounds] Tre: What's that, a toy? [toddler sounds] James: The only thing I can do is go out there every day and do the best job that I can and remember I serve a public, I serve people. Child: Mat...Sat...Sam...Sat... James: Alright. Good job. You're getting it. Never get to a point
where you become cynical because it's easy to do that. Marketta: Hi Momma. [Laughing] Sean: I love you. Marketta: I love you too big guy. Mila: We all love you. Joe: We were never meant to do this, but we are. We have been for years and we're going to be probably
forever. Stop complaining about it, wake up and let's just give us the tools and resources that we need. Tre: Say stop police! [toddler sounds] Tre: Police. Stop resisting. Love you. Joe: The bar that we have in police
work is just stay alive. That's the most important thing go home at the end of the
day. Yeah, but that's also a pretty low bar. We need to raise the bar of what our
expectations are. Marketta: Love you guys. Sean & Mila: Love you too. Marketta: I feel good, like actually, like, stating my piece,
kinda, you know? Marketta: Kind of like get that sense of like relief. It's been a good day.
This was a great documentary! Sad yet hopeful. And very respectful. Highly recommended!
Christopher 7 mins in got to me. That panicked "Please please I don't wanna go!" to the mental ward is exactly the way my brother sounded when the prospect of going back to the ward came up. I wish the ward was a place he could get help from, but it was just a holding cell. What's worse is that they typically hold people until it is no longer profitable to do so. For my brother that usually meant being held for 2 weeks or more with a meth addict gang member room mate until a more profitable patient needed his bed.
I'm glad some police out there are being more compassionate an trying to help people rather than shoot them, but them saying "I'm going to get you help by taking you to the ward" is an empty gesture. It's like saying to someone having a breakdown "Here, I'll help you out. Lets bring you to jail for a month." The whole way we deal with the mentally ill in this country currently needs an overhaul.
They need better training but also need to be informed on the conditions before approaching. There's a mental health crisis in the US but for some reason people don't want to talk about it.
I just watched this yesterday and have been thinking about it a lot. I think what gets me most, is that those deescalation techniques should be part of all law enforcement training and used in all situations. You shouldn't only call in the few cops trained to talk someone down when you find out the person has schizophrenia (though having a mental health unit is still a very good idea). These skills are the missing piece in so many shootings that could have potentially ended differently.
As an Australian with a mental illness, I have a crippling fear of police because of the threats. "If you don't come with us in the ambulance, we will call the police." "If you leave the hospital, we will call the police."
Every time I left the psych hospital, it would take me months to convince myself that I as allowed out, and that the police weren't out to get me.
My city is small and has a lot of homeless, giving it the highest rate of homeless per capita in the US. I was thinking about why we have so many unstable, unwell people, not just homeless but in general. I know we have awful mental health care, but it also seems like we produce more people with mental health issues in general that need care than elsewhere. I dunno why that is.
I live directly next to Sandy Hook. My 13 year old son struggles socially, emotionally and with depression (officially has ADHD, DMDD and unspecified trauma disorder). He is not violent nor has he ever made threats of violence, but because kids in the neighborhood are afraid of him, we’ve had the police sent to our home several times and each time was a total misunderstanding yet my son was forced to ride in an ambulance where he is required to get an eval. Since I have always been 100% transparent with my son’s school, they know about his struggles - I foolishly thought they’d use this info to help my son, not use it against him. That being said, the kid never even had so much as a detention when they removed him from school for making up a joke - again, no threats, a joke, albeit it was in poor taste but isn’t that what all 13 year olds do? Hired a fancy lawyer and he did absolutely nothing to help my son - wiping my ass with the $6,000 would have been better use of the money. So my son now attends a school with kids who are either addicts or criminals. He’s not a bad kid, he struggles socially but certainly not violent in any way at all. They are punishing my son because they fear my son and I blame it all 100% on the Sandy Hook shooting. My son is different yes, but he’s not a criminal. Now neighbors won’t even walk by our home anymore. Yes, he gets loud, yes he gets irrational (at home) but never, ever would he hurt someone. The whole thing makes me sick and has turned me bitter towards the community. I just want my son to get the education he deserves.....instead he is grouped in with kids that are violent or addicted to drugs, there’s fighting every day (my son was assaulted 6 times this last school year alone), police dogs searching them and arresting them when they act out - I’m not trying to put down the other kids, but my son doesn’t belong in there and it’s corrupting him more so than he was when he began attending this “school”. He is treated like a fucking criminal for being different and it consumes me entirely and has left deep hate for my community inside my heart.
Getting someone slapped with a mental health diagnosis and either institutionalized and/or medicated into drooling moron-hood is a time-honored variation of the whole framing someone on trumped-up charges way of getting rid of people inconvenient to powerful moneyed interests. I bet even in most wealthy countries with semi-functioning democracies, a non-negligible number of people languishing away in institutions they're not free to leave (prisons for the criminally insane, involuntarily committed asylum patients, overmedicated nursing home patients, and in the past lobotomized people) have nothing fundamentally wrong with their minds besides pissing off the wrong people.
The whole thing should be watched by all officers/potential officers. Almost every person that commits a crime has a reason, weather that's being forced, feeling theres no choice or other. Everyone needs to understand that were all people and some are motivated to do negative things. I'll be honest, I'm from Europe bit seeing the shit that's happened over the past week has destroyed my faith in so many things. I know humanity is amazing. But how can you be happy waking up to mass murder.
Obviously a bit off point, but the face that somebody mentally unwell is more likely to be abused/killed is devastating