On Monday, we reported on the police killing of a mentally unstable man in Big Falls Village, Toledo District. Moses Williams who was brandishing a machete and charged towards a special constable and chopped both his hands. As Williams stood over him, with the machete in the air and was about to chop him again, a police Constable reportedly fired a warning shot with his issued 12-guage pump action but Williams took no heed. The police then shot Williams in the left leg to subdue him, but, Williams reportedly kept advancing with the machete towards the police and got a hold of his shotgun. Both police officers then dashed off. A few minutes' later police heard when the shotgun. Police from Punta Gorda arrived on the scene and found Williams sitting on the ground with the shotgun under his injured leg and a machete next to him. Police took Williams to the hospital and he died at 9:20am.
Today the Mental Health Association issued a release saying, quote, "While understanding the difficulties faced by Police Authorities when dealing with someone experiencing an acute psychotic episode the Mental Health Association once again appeals to the Authorities not to send unprepared police officers alone to deal with such a situation. A person experiencing an acute psychotic episode will probably not react rationally to an order to put down his weapon. He is likely to become even more aggressive as reportedly was the case with Mr. Williams. This unfortunate incident underlines the need for the Police to work more closely with Mental Health professionals when dealing with these situations. No doubt the Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner stationed in Punta Gorda would have been familiar with Mr. Williams' case and had the police officers consulted her and even taken her along with them she might very well have been able to defuse the situation without the use of force. They say that Williams probably needed to be involuntarily confined to a mental health facility to stabilise his condition before being released back to his community.
Email
Print