Police

One of my long ago clients, a trans man who went on to work for me for years, called me yesterday to catch up. He told me he had recently been arrested due to false allegations. He was at home with his young son when the police came to the door. He opened the door a little to see who was there, and then police grabbed him and started attacking him in the hallway, in front of the child who had wandered out into the hall since the door was open. He was telling the police to bring the child back inside, and a neighbor heard and took the child into their apartment. At one point, they were pinning him in a way that was making it hard for him to breathe, so he yelled “I can’t breathe!” Another neighbor heard that, so close to the anniversary of George Floyd’s death, and ran into the hall and tried to pull the police off. They both were arrested, but when they got to the precinct he was only there for 45 min. because when they finally asked questions and looked at his phone they realized there was no evidence to support the allegations. This is how people of color get killed. I had a client murdered by the police years ago. In 2015, David Felix was living in a mental health supportive housing program, when the police showed up. Only one staff member was in the main office at the time, and the police overrrode her efforts to demand a warrant and call a supervisor. She informed them that he had a serious mental illness, but they stampeded up to his apartment anyway. When they entered his apartment, David, who like most formerly homeless people had a long history of negative experiences with the police, must have panicked. He said “I’m not going” and tried to flee down the fire escape. In the chaos that followed, an officer shot David at point blank range. He killed a young man over a stolen purse that they didn’t even prove he stole. He was 24 years old. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/10/david-felix-immigration-mental-illness-killed-by-police