Man calls a suicide prevention hotline, killed by SWAT

• Compass wrote on 2014-10-26 21:09

  Roy, Utah – A Roy, Utah man, Jose Calzada, 35, placed a call to a suicide prevention hotline at 4:00 a.m. Tuesday morning and threatened to kill himself, seven hour later he was shot and killed by police, according to law enforcement.
  
  According to ABC 4, neighbors described Calzada as a quiet, friendly man, who was divorced and now lived in the home with his girlfriend and her children.
  
  The first tragic mistake in this case was made when the Weber County Consolidated Dispatch Center sent officers to the residence rather than some type of crisis response team trained to deal with suicidal individuals.
  
  From previous cases, such as that of Jason Turk, who was shot twice in the face after a suicide call to 9-1-1 by his wife, or that of Christian Alberto Sierra, who was suffering from depression and had attempted suicide when police showed up and shot him four times, killing him, most know all too well what happens when you send officers to “assist” people threatening suicide.
  
  Subsequently, a SWAT team came to the residence and “negotiated” with Calzada for more than seven hours before taking his life.
  
  “At some point those negotiations failed and unfortunately the SWAT team was involved in a shooting, and the subject is now deceased,” said Roy PD spokesman Matt Gwynn.
  
  Eyewitness Ron Smith told the Standard-Examiner that he heard “one shot, and then a pause, and then four or five shots after that, that were very rapid.”
  
  Specifics of the case were not released but Gwynn was sure to explain the cop logic of reasonableness stating, “Officers are authorized to stop a threat whenever their life is threatened, or the life of another is threatened. And at that point if the officer feels he is justified, he may act to stop that threat.”
  
  “This is being treated as a officer assisted suicide or suicide by cops,” Gwynn said.
  
  While that could potentially be the case, this is usually the default position of law enforcement when unprepared officers show up to deal with individuals experiencing severe mental health issues.
  
  Often police go into these situations with an ingrained mentality of looking at citizens as threats to the safety of the officers and thus feel empowered and justified to use lethal force as the suicidal person has already threatened to kill someone, themselves.
  
  Gwynn went on to state, “We encourage those having suicidal thoughts or tendencies to contact a physician or expert that can talk them through it. In this particular case he attempted to do that — it’s unfortunate and sad that it failed.”
  
  Sadly, Gwynn’s words ring hollow as Calzada did exactly as Gwynn suggests and ended up paying the ultimate price as is far too often the case in these situations.

  
  Source
• Campylobacter jejuni wrote on 2014-10-26 21:56
  I would've expected something more from a SWAT team... They're the professionals after all.
• Darkboy132 wrote on 2014-10-27 00:32
  ... What the fuck. What in fucking hell is prompting them to shoot?
• Mentosftw wrote on 2014-10-27 00:38
  The cops most likely have a superiority complex and look down at citizens.
• Campylobacter jejuni wrote on 2014-10-27 00:49

  Quote from Darkboy132;1252166:

  ... What the fuck. What in fucking hell is prompting them to shoot?

  
  
  They said there was a single shot and shortly after that a series of shots. We don't know the details, but let's try to fill in the holes in a way that it could make sense. Maybe he had a gun and called the hotline to announce himself using it very soon - I have a hard time coming up with a different explanation on why the suicide hotline felt the urge to tell on him immediately to begin with, which is what appears to have happened, if he did the call 7 hours before he died, and the team negotiated with him for 7 hours, which means they would have had to arrive very shortly after he called. Maybe he did point the gun at one when they tried to advance and pulled the trigger, the guy took cover fast enough and then immediately retaliated with a salvo of shots or something like that.
  
  I am not happy about the fact that they used deadly force though. I mean they should have the means to subdue a minimally equipped civilian with ease without shooting him to death. Bean bag rounds, flashbangs, gas grenades, you name it. And they should have the skill to do so - though of course after 7 hours of tense negotiation and being at the ready, your judgement may be impaired... I don't know if that duration is SWAT routine. But I think it should be.
  
  I dunno man.
• Iazroa wrote on 2014-10-27 23:58
  Fuck the police
• Hanna wrote on 2014-10-28 00:19
  [Image: http://www.toonhole.com/comics/2013-04-19-211_BridgeSuicide.jpg]
• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2014-10-28 01:13

  Quote from Mentosftw;1252168:

  The cops most likely have a superiority complex and look down at citizens.

  
  
  So warhammer is right? Because space marines treat regular humans as garbage too...
• Darkboy132 wrote on 2014-10-28 08:25

  Quote from Hanna;1252256:

  [Image: http://www.toonhole.com/comics/2013-04-19-211_BridgeSuicide.jpg]

  
  
  Ugh not this again e-e
• mageisfun wrote on 2014-10-31 19:10
  Seriously, fuck US police. At this point most of them seem like scum.
• Kaon wrote on 2014-10-31 23:56
  Based on.. the few instances in media that have come to light?
  
  People are always loudest about what makes them mad. Yeah, there's a lot of police related incidents that are horribly fucked up, especially that have been touched on recently. But this isn't new, nor is it the exclusive norm.
  
  'Wow this one policeman is an asshole, all of them must be asses like him.' <genius logic, right
  There's plenty of them that do their jobs, and well, and plenty of them that are good hearted and just want to help people.
  
  Frankly these blanket statements are the same things the bad ones are guilty of. It's the same thing as racism.
  'Wow this one black guy is an asshole, they all must be asses.'
  'Wow this black guy is dumb, they must all be dumb, and not as intelligent as white people.'
  
  That's how it started, and that's how it continues. Generalizing people and groups like that is part of why we have these problems.
• Hanna wrote on 2014-11-01 04:38

  Quote from Kaon;1252743:

  Based on.. the few instances in media that have come to light?
  
  People are always loudest about what makes them mad. Yeah, there's a lot of police related incidents that are horribly fucked up, especially that have been touched on recently. But this isn't new, nor is it the exclusive norm.
  
  'Wow this one policeman is an asshole, all of them must be asses like him.' <genius logic, right
  There's plenty of them that do their jobs, and well, and plenty of them that are good hearted and just want to help people.
  
  Frankly these blanket statements are the same things the bad ones are guilty of. It's the same thing as racism.
  'Wow this one black guy is an asshole, they all must be asses.'
  'Wow this black guy is dumb, they must all be dumb, and not as intelligent as white people.'
  
  That's how it started, and that's how it continues. Generalizing people and groups like that is part of why we have these problems.

  
  
  The problem is the fucking power trip, they get these guys fresh out of the military and slap a badge on them. They can practically get away with anything, I mean shit cops kill people all of the fucking time and they almost always get away with it. Personally I think people's hatred and distrust of law enforcement is well justified.
• Kaeporo wrote on 2014-11-01 05:01

  Quote from Hanna;1252770:

  The problem is the fucking power trip, they get these guys fresh out of the military and slap a badge on them. They can practically get away with anything, I mean shit cops kill people all of the fucking time and they almost always get away with it. Personally I think people's hatred and distrust of law enforcement is well justified.

  
  
  If my enlistment ended today, you're saying that they would hand me a law enforcement job where I could kill innocent people and get away with it?
  
  Seriously, Hanna.
• Aubog007 wrote on 2014-11-01 05:15
  i have no reason to distrust law enforcement, because of my experience with them.
  
  So until it changes from MY OWN PERSPECTIVE, and not the bias of someone else, then i will change accordingly.
• Hanna wrote on 2014-11-01 05:39

  Quote from Kaeporo;1252771:

  If my enlistment ended today, you're saying that they would hand me a law enforcement job where I could kill innocent people and get away with it?
  
  Seriously, Hanna.

  
  No, I'm saying a large chunk of police officers were previously enlisted in the military. You still have to go to a police academy but I've been told they don't have to spend as much time there and I've even been told by a cop they're preferred. What worries me is soldiers go over seas and end up doing things they wouldn't normally do (like killing people). That has to fucking change you, I could never kill someone and be the same person I was before afterwards.