Ryan Gainer, a teen with autism, was a cross-country runner who worked out his frustrations with six-mile runs and dreamed of becoming an engineer.
On Saturday afternoon, the 15-year-old became upset that his parents had demanded he complete his household chores before he would be allowed to play video games or listen to music on his computer, according to DeWitt Lacy, a civil rights attorney representing Ryan’s family.
“He got upset. Any teen would be upset by that,” Lacy said. Some people with autism experience more heightened emotions and on that day Ryan responded by breaking glass on the front door, Lacy said.
A family member called 911 for help, asking dispatch to send deputies to “take him in” because he was breaking glass and hitting his sister, according to a portion of the call released by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
But instead a responding deputy fatally shot the teen, saying he had threatened the deputy with a garden tool.
This headline happens so frequently that I was confused at first and thought it was from a couple of years ago.
Why would you call the cops on someone you care about? How often would a armed person that can kill with impunity help a situation?
Defund the police was an unpopular slogan. ‘Redistribute some police funding to social services, education, mental health, and unarmed crisis interventions’ doesn’t fit on a T-shirt. When faced with a dangerous family situation, there’s no one else to call for help.
Defund the police was unpopular because the rightwing weaponised it and made it so.
Any phrase you use will be made unpopular, even something as basic, positive, and explanatory as “walkable cities”.
The issue isn’t the phrase you use, it’s not defending them well enough from malicious actors.
Sorry, I strongly disagree. It’s a dumb slogan that says, “Get rid of the police!”. Once that idea is in people’s heads, there no explaining what it really means.
nah man, abolish the police… fuckem ACAB
Exactly. Abolish police. Abolish prisons. Abolish people’s right to carry guns. Only then can we have the truly peaceful society we want.
It sounds like he was violent. What’s a cop supposed to do, exactly?
I don’t know, maybe ask him to not run at him with a garden tool? The fact that they need to be trained to have this tiny amount of compassion is sad. They just want any reason to shoot neurodivergent people of color like this.
