Less than 10 seconds after officers opened the door, police shot Yong Yang in his parents’ Koreatown home while he was holding a knife during a bipolar episode.

Less than 10 seconds after officers opened the door, police shot Yong Yang in his parents’ Koreatown home while he was holding a knife during a bipolar episode.

Parents in Los Angeles’ Koreatown called for mental health help in the middle of their son’s bipolar episode this month. Clinical personnel showed up — and so did police shortly after.

Police fatally shot Yong Yang, 40, who had a knife in his hand, less than 10 seconds after officers opened the door to his parents’ apartment where he had locked himself in, newly released bodycam video shows.

Now the parents of Yang, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder around 15 years ago, have told NBC News exclusively that they are disputing part of the account captured on bodycam, in which police recount a clinician’s saying Yang was violent before the shooting on May 2.

  • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
    6·
    6 months ago

    Myung Sook Yang said she initially called the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health about her son on the morning of the shooting. Members of the county’s Psychiatric Mobile Response Team responded but ultimately turned to the police for assistance.

    The parents didn’t call the cops.

    • NarrativeBear@lemmy.world
      2·
      6 months ago

      Very interesting, this even more so highlights how the system is somewhat failing or overburden in a way.

      Even calling for assistance or help down the right channels can lead you down some unwanted or unseen directions.

      I suppose that this same reason is why homelessness is as big of a issue, people don’t ask for help because it usually ends up being more of a burden then the situation they may already be in.

    • theareciboincident@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      2·
      6 months ago

      There’s no problem with someone equipped to handle violent situations being present.

      The problem is if they unnecessarily escalate and get involved instead of standing by.

      The solution is to dismantle the entire police system and rebuild from scratch with accountability and training.

      We just need to vote for the Democrats one more time and they’ll finally do something about it right? That’s what all the funny memes here tell me. The democrats that are literally sponsored by police unions and advertise that fact endlessly.