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Boston to pay $4.7 million to woman who called 911 for help for her mentally ill son, then police arrived and shot him dead
By adamg on Tue, 03/26/2024 - 4:30pm
Lawyers for Civil Rights and the law firm of Fick & Marx today announced a $4.7 million settlement of the civil-rights lawsuit they had filed on behalf of Hope Coleman, who called 911 to request an ambulance to transport her son to a hospital to get treatment for his mental illness, but who was instead fatally show by Boston Police officers outside his home on Oct. 30, 2016.
In a statement, Coleman said:
No mother should have to witness her child killed at the hands of police and fight, the way that I have had to fight now for so many years, to gain accountability. Nothing can bring Terrence back, but today at least some measure of justice has been done.
In 2017, Greg Cook listened to Coleman speak at a rally against police brutality in Codman Square.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
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 Complete complaint | 193.05 KB |
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Comments
I call BS.
If you need a medical transport on the advice of a therapist, don't call 911. That statement calls everyone "inadequately trained" from the dispatcher to the cops and the EMTs. I wasn't there, of course, but the charges as presented, sound calculated for maximum drama not to mention horseshit.
No I'm not a cop but I am a former emergency dispatcher. That being said, it's sometimes easier to "pay the two dollars" and make it go away.
Personally,
I find the fact that the cops are so poorly trained that they think shooting someone in crisis is a reasonable action. To say nothing of how dispatch apparently works.
don't blame the victim
yes, I agree you should never call 911, but I also agree your son shouldn't die because you did.
What if your son tries to kill the EMTs?
If you try to kill someone, there’s a good chance it might backfire on you like it did in this case.
shot in their own home by armed intruders
even if there was a fight, the adults in the room can just leave the home they entered. You don't kill someone because your pride was hurt. In this case there was an argument because the EMTs tried to kidnap the victim and interm them in our failed mental health system. Refusing a kidnapping in your own home is not justification for an execution.
In short
911 shouldn't have been called and the guy should have just been left alone, no?
WTF
Of course you should call 911 in a medical emergency. Not everybody can afford to call the Happy Wagon in from McLeans.
Shame on you for blaming the victims!
WTF asshole
the complaint implies it was a non-emergency transport
Mom says it wasn't an emergency, don't send police, his therapist says he just needs a ride. I would have suggested that the therapist call the ambulance and explain the situation and also arrange his admittance to Tufts.
what is the point you are making
as it pertains to the settlement?
Doesn't that point to an issue with the emergency dispatch?
Shouldn't that have been something for the emergency dispatcher to suggest then, rather than send it to the cops who then show up and shoot someone?
Ok,, so for those of us in the peanut gallery
Who exactly would you call? Both for the novice and experienced mental heath victim? It's rather odd that you don't actually specify options if you're going to make such a ridonkulus assertion?
options for who to call
here: https://namimass.org/in-a-crisis/
Not sure? Call the Mobile Crisis Intervention (MCI) team - it serves everyone who asks. In Boston, this is BMC and North Suffolk (depending on the neighborhood).
You can reach either, and other local MCI teams, by calling the Behavioral Health Helpline at 833-773-2445.
Thank you
This is detail that should've been in the original message
the average citizen
should not be expected to have this piece of esoterica at their fingertips in a crisis
But was this an average citizen?
If I had a kid with mental health issues that get severe, I would school myself on who to call when things get bad.
But why should you have to in order to keep your kid alive?
Picking the wrong organization to call shouldn't be a death sentence.
I could have been for those private EMTS
that may have been stabbed when they showed up.....
Shooting
Cop gets shot responding to domestic call. One day news event. Ho hum who cares.
derail your train car elsewhere
how much of our tax money is going to fusion center goons to post this copganda.
We can always cut somemore
We can always cut somemore from the schools.
Hit ‘em in the wallet
End qualified immunity, and watch the problem fix itself.
Would cost more
A case like this the city would pay to defend the officers and would win anyway. (and thousands of others faced with lawsuits).
Or you might have a few dead emts…(which would also cost you.)
In the end the city didn’t have to pay this out and most likely would have won in court.
Absolutely justified. Read
Absolutely justified. Read the details. Nice check if you can get it I suppose.
Did Uhub report on this at the time?
I'd be curious to read the details reported when it happened.
“Lawyers Get Money”
Should be the headline. We’re all paying for it. Sounds like the city booted the case.
The city claims Coleman had a serrated knife and was trying to kill the emts. The officers tried to subdue him first before one shot him.
murdered by the state
There is no justification for the murder and the money won't bring restitution. There should be criminal charges.