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.

  • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
    29·
    6 months ago

    Very genuine question: why do cops never use taser guns for situations like this? Presumably they knew the weapon was a knife, so no risk of a shootout.

    • el_abuelo@lemmy.ml
      101·
      6 months ago

      Honestly this is what infuriates me when 2nd amendment enthusiasts say “UK cops should carry guns” - fuck off mate, we de-escalate and use non-lethal way more effectively than your wanker cops who only have a hammer and everything is a nail.

      Give your cops a toolkit instead of just a hammer and you’ll see the difference.

      • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world
        5·
        6 months ago

        You’re responding to someone asking why they don’t use their tasers. They have a toolkit. They choose to only use the hammer from it.

        • el_abuelo@lemmy.ml
          2·
          6 months ago

          Yeah my comment wasn’t intended to be critical of the person I was replying to - it was infact highlighting their point.

          American cops don’t tend to use tasers when the suspect is wielding a knife because it’s seen as a lethal weapon, to which they have a lethal response for. Or as another responder replied - the training is the issue, US cops are hardly short of equipment.

        • dustyData@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          6 months ago

          The typical service worker has more training time before doing their job than a cop gets before getting a gun and a badge. That’s the other side of the coin.

    • spirinolas@lemmy.world
      3·
      6 months ago

      HEY! Civilian, stop talking about stuff you know nothing about!

      In dangerous situations and non-whites (same thing , right) we need LETHAL FORCE to control the situation. If someone us murd…I mean, fatally shot, so be it.

      Tasers are just for torture. It’s fun but we can’t be always playing! We’re working here!

      /s