The Phoenix Police Department’s Disciplinary Review Board begins hearings today on what to do with an officer who shot to death a mentally ill woman who tried to attack him with a hammer.
The hearings come after the department’s use-of-force panel found Officer Percy Dupra failed to follow police policy. It also found Dupra lacked the proper training to deal with mentally ill people like Michelle Cusseaux.
Sam Stone of the American Justice Project notes the problem goes way beyond this case.
“This is a massive issue across the country and anyone who doesn’t see the depth of the problem that stretches into not only the mental health community but across our impoverished communities is really making a mistake,” Stone said.
The board has 30 days to decide whether the officer should be suspended, demoted or fired for shooting Cusseaux. That recommendation will then be sent on to the city.
Cusseaux’s mother, who hailed the decision by the use-of-force board, said she still intends to sue the city over her daughter’s death.
In the meantime, efforts are underway to enable policy and mental health professionals to diffuse similar situations.
Elizabeth Singleton advocates for the mental health community.
“It’s been a long fight for the mental health community. We wanted to make sure that all police officers who were dealing with individuals with disability would be able to have our crisis intervention training, would have more understandings of people with disabilities,” she said.
Singleton said there’s a push to have the police department work along with mental health providers to reduce the number of incidents like this in the future.