Gershun Freeman died inside a Memphis, Tennessee, jail in October. A few months later, in March, Irvo Otieno perished inside a state hospital shortly after police and hospital staff knelt on him for several minutes. Aside from being two more Black men in America who died in police custody, their stories share another commonality: Both found themselves under arrest by police officers during a mental health crisis.
On Oct. 5, 2022, Shelby County sheriff’s deputies opened Freeman’s cell inside the county jail. Freeman lunged toward the officers, who began to punch, kick, strike him with handcuffs, and pepper-spray him in an effort to subdue him, video footage shows. He died shortly after.
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An autopsy conducted by a county medical examiner found Freeman died of exacerbation of heart disease due to the physical altercation and being subdued by officers, and classified the death as a homicide. In addition, Freeman had psychosis, a mental health condition that can cause people to perceive things differently than what is around them, his family has said.
Police had booked him four days earlier on aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault charges following an incident with his girlfriend a week before his death, Shelby County court records show.
Freeman’s analyzed incidents between 2019 and 2021 where police were called for mental health or wellness checks — and found 178 cases where law enforcement killed the people they were called to help.
“There is no need for someone with a gun to respond to these situations when people really need someone who is better equipped to provide them with the help and resources they deserve,” Gilbert said.
In 2022, a total of 110 people were killed after police responded to someone “behaving erratically,” according to a study from Mapping Police Violence.
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A recent report from the Treatment Advocacy Center found people with untreated mental illness were 16 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement.
Some areas have begun to reform how they handle mental health calls. For example, Denver began using social workers in some situations instead of police, and in 2021 New York City also began to send social workers for some 911 calls.
In Washington, D.C., police started a pilot program that removes officers from some mental health calls and routes them instead toward city social workers.
Other cities like Portland established street response teams, specifically tasked with addressing people with mental health issues — and have faced success, according to researchers from Portland State University. The street response team operates unarmed weapons and is trained mainly to de-escalate encounters with civilians suffering from mental health issues.
New York lawmakers proposed “Daniel’s Law” this year, which would create special civilian teams throughout the state who are trained in nonviolent response. It followed the March 2020 death of Daniel Prude, who was reportedly acting erratically before police in Rochester killed him.
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Ted Shaffrey/Associated Press
His brother said Prude experienced a mental health emergency after ingesting PCP and was naked in the street.
Prude’s family called 911, but things quickly turned violent after officers placed a “spit hood” over his head, a restraint device used to prevent people from spitting or biting. Prude was declared brain dead upon arriving at the hospital and died a few days later after being taken off life support. Prude was suicidal, according to his brother.
“There needs to be policy changes to make mental health care more affordable and a more diverse workforce of therapists to meet the need in our communities,” said Erlanger Taylor, an associate professor of psychology at Pepperdine University. “This may help to ensure that people can get help before it escalates to a crisis situation.”
