What I’m stating is that everyone involved had a part in passing the buck of responsibility to the next party until ultimately the end result was almost assuredly going to be bodily harm to Yong Yang.
Fair, but I go back to my original comment. Possibly the parents would have behaved differently if they had any faith the police would have. As it turns out, the police didn’t, they did what every parent of a special needs child fears.
Please, I hope you didn’t take my hypothetical as an attack
I kinda took it as a bit of a strawman, even if unintentional. That’s why I contrasted with a more reasonable one.
I appreciate that your intent is not to defend police regarding OP or in general. However, as I said elsewhere, are there actually other circumstances where I’d call police? Probably. My original statement was (slightly) hyperbolic.
However, is it MY fault that I need to do this calculus about whether the folks paid to help might kill my child instead? No, it’s not, and I won’t apologize for it.
Police have earned their reputation.
If I can’t count on them to help without killing me or people I love needlessly, I’m not going to call them. I would think anyone, even a cop, would understand this fundamental requirement.
My cousin is no longer living, he had a heart attack; however, despite his inability to control his strength, I did allow him to be around my kids, but never alone and never without me being on pins and needles the entire time. Its sad to say that, but ultimately I am just glad he and them got to interact. It brought joy to both of them equally, I’m sure.
I’m sorry for the sad ending to your story, but glad that there were opportunities for joy along the way. These situations are tough, I get it.
i don’t think it is safest for your child or for you (or others, obviously) for you to refuse to call until there is a body.
Man a little hyperbole brings out all the haters. 🙂
i think police need training to work with people like this and to de-escalate in general. i think i lot of them need treatment for their own PTSD. i think they fucked up here.
but i don’t think it’s realistic either to think that they can, in practice, handle things the same way a nurse with many years of experience and additional tools can. and i would also point out that many social workers (not my profession but related, just the last field i saw stats on) have been assaulted by their clients.
All your points are reasonable. But I have to weigh all other factors against the likelihood that cops are going to show up and harm or kill my child unnecessarily.
Are there actually other circumstances where I’d call police? Probably. Is it MY fault that I need to do this calculus about whether the folks paid to help might kill my child instead? No, it’s not, and I won’t apologize for it.
I will always advocate that a big area where police could improve their standing with the communities they serve is to always strive toward better, non-lethal handling of situations where the circumstances are appropriate; however, handling individuals with behavioral / mental disabilities isn’t simple…
Nearly every single time I have seen someone make this particular excuse for police, a nurse or other staff from a healthcare facility will crop up to point out that they do it all day every day without having to kill people.
Here’s a hypothetical for you, if your son had an episode and took someone hostage with a knife, you wouldn’t call the police?
Sure, OK, you have found a corner case. Bravo, I guess? We can pretend I was using the modern definition of the word “literally.” 😉
It doesn’t change the overall point.
Here’s a hypothetical for you, which is far more likely than your own for an autistic kid. My son doesn’t even have the concept of holding someone hostage, and I venture to guess this is true for lots of others on the spectrum.
Let’s say he has a knife in his hand because that’s what he happened to have in his hand (somehow) when his fight or flight mechanism was triggered, and now he’s massively overstimulated, and in a meltdown. He’s not trying to hurt anyone (I’m not convinced he knows stabbing someone is an option a knife provides), but he’s waving it around because he is very active with his arms when he’s overstimulated, and he might even try to grapple with someone while holding it, again not really recognizing the potential for great harm. It’s going to be a real challenge to get it from him safely, and someone could get badly injured.
Edited to add - I read the story in OP, or I read about Linden Cameron, or I read about Elijah McClain (and others) and that’s my son there, or may as well be. Elijah McClain especially - heartbreaking. Nothing about any of those circumstances seems like an outcome I couldn’t imagine with any given group of police. I have no faith that more than a vanishingly small percentage would even see the problem with how these situations were handled, let alone try to do it differently.
I mean, every criticism you level at the parents sounds like people worried that if they call police its going to go badly.
I have a severely autistic son. There is literally no circumstance where I would call the police for any event involving him. Unless there is a dead body on the floor, they are not getting a call.
I’m in a weird dichotomy where I need to be sure he knows to trust police in case somehow he’s alone and needs help one day, while at the same time realizing that if he gets to that point he’s probably fucked, and praying there is never, ever a time where he interacts with police without my wife or I between him and them. I can’t say “look for a fireman” or “look for an ambulance” because there isn’t always one of them around. But you never have to wait too long to see a cop.
Hopefully if that ever happens, he’ll stumble across one of the less trigger-happy ones.
Oh look, another article where privileged folks point at lines on a chart and tell us we’re wrong for acknowledging that our lived experiences and those of our friends suck in recent years.
an equally absurd conspiracy theory as Trump having actually won in 2016.
Trump did win in 2016. And yes, it’s entirely reasonable and consistent with his behavior and rhetoric to this point that he will try not to leave. He’s already comparing himself to FDR and talking about three terms.
You get no argument from me! 100% agree. I’m as frustrated as anyone that this is the case, but it is. Maybe everyone has to have their one “reform” vote lesson. I voted for Nader once. I still get a hard time for that from some people.
12 years is pretty ridiculous. OTOH, you are unknowingly traveling with live ammo. I’m less bothered by the ammo part than the unknowing part, but in combination - yeah that needs to be more than a slap on the wrist.
You have just demonstrated your inability to keep track of the important bits related to your deadly weapon. Maybe you don’t need to own a deadly weapon if that’s an indicator of how you treat it.
So I’m all for “restorative justice” but I do think this should get more than a stern talking to.
Everyone is for restorative justice until it’s someone or something they don’t like.
Only the left is for restorative justice. The right is for maximum punishment, and no mercy. Especially if you don’t look like they do.
OTOH the right seems pretty into personal responsibility - until it’s someone or something they do like.