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Margaret Laverne Mitchell was a homeless grandmother, who to some appeared to
be mentally-ill. Margaret, lived on the streets of Los Angeles,
and had all of her
earthly possessions in a shopping cart, a little over two-years ago, when she
was accosted by two LAPD officers,
on a bicycle patrol, who stopped her re
her “stolen shopping” cart, what happens next, is a matter of public record, in
the seige-like gung-ho mentality. During the ensuing struggle to
contain Margaret,
she retreated from the officers in hot pursuit
— after this
poor, wreched woman only because she was homeless, appeared mentally ill, and was
an embarrassment to Law Enforcement.
She had been estranged by her family, she had
been once a bank teller for the Bank of America,
and the mental-health safety
net does not get off the hook either,
because there still is very little
voluntary, or even involuntary outreach or
adequate services in the area of Hollywood, where these officers shot her to death, when Margaret pulled a
screwdriver out to protect herself. It was later determined that the
officers acted improperly,
and instead of de-escalating this incident, they escalated it to the point of shooting her to death.
On Friday, the Los Angeles City Council agreed to pay a little less than one million dollars to settle the case, fearing if it would have gone to trial, it would have cost the city much more — and it would have. Beyond the tragedy of Margaret’s death, there were at least 13 other deaths that year at the hands of law-enforcment, against the mentally ill. Lamp helped facilitate Margaret’s funeral, We spoke out publicly aganst this We, and I personally. wrote to the L.A. Times, condemning this act. The letter was printed. After over two and a half years later the same questions are being asked, and not answered. Where are the emergency-services that were ordered by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors? Why has the CAO continiued to block the appropriated funds to hire and implement the changes that the L.A. County Dept. of Mental Health had meeting upon meeting on. What in God’s Name is wrong with the the 6-figured bureaucrats that continue to keep our city in danger, by not providing the emergency services, 24-7? What about the the LAPD and their training, when it comes to the homeless and the mentally ill? Laura Chick, city-councilwoman, said the same thing I said two-and half years ago, “Training and services.” The culture that allowed Margaret to be shot down like some rabid dog by the LAPD is alive and well in Parker Center, by the top brass. All the public relations in the world will not change this. The ACLU being forced to go into federal district court, two weeks ago, and file a temporary restraining order against the LAPD, to stop harrassing the homeless, by targeting them in the skid-row area for jaywalking tickets, is proof once again that they have no respect for human dignity, compassion, or any inclination to change their attittude about these issues. They of course deny the allegations, they cited 70 people in one day even after the TRO was issued, and this was documented, and recieved local media attention.
So who is responsible? The city of Los Angeles has a program, just for the record that was a national pilot, called SMART, set up by a retired sergeant by the name of Walter LeCuir. We met with him over the years. These elite units were specificially designed to deal with these kinds of psychiatric crises. They were around, long before the incident, similar to units in Memphis Tennessee. They’re just not funded and supported properly. The Sheriff’s Dept. there also has the same kind of units called MET. In Margaret’s case they never were even called. Getting back to responsibility, we all are. Until the City of Los Angeles, and the County, are ready to put their money into services, they well continue to pay out multi-million dollar law-suits, and no citizen will be safe. And God-forbid, your homeless or mentally-ill in this city, whatever you do, don’t jaywalk, and if you need a cart or something, try using a baby carriage. Many of the homeless have resorted to this in order to protect themselves. In the meantime, Lamp’s day-center is open 7-days a week, from 8AM to 3:45PM. We don’t have security guards, and we’ll treat you with dignity and respect. Respectfully, Gerald N. Minsklamp-staff-advocate | ||||||||
For the record,
having been a homeless-outreach worker, with over eleven years of
field experience, I would just remind everyone that people with mental illness
are no more violent then the general population.
Lamp’s outreach, in the
community for the last 16 years,
has and continues to be successful, by using
trust, respect, and treating people with dignity.
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