Latest / Black Girl Interrupted Podcast / Killed for being Mentally Ill...Pt. 2

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Killed for being Mentally Ill...Pt. 2 · Black Girl Interrupted Podcast

0:27
What's up? What's what's up? Y'all? It's your girl ask y'all already
0:32
know and welcome back. Let me get comfortable, y'all. Welcome back to
0:36
another episode of Black Girl Interrupted. Y'all already know your girl Ash. I'm
0:44
telling y'all, like, y'all really just don't understand, Like, how proud
0:47
I am, how consistent I have been with my episodes, Like I am
0:52
just ecstatic that I've been consistent with my episode. Yes, I had a
0:57
couple of times that I was supposed to show up and did it. But
1:00
it's cool. I'm here. I'm making up for it. But again,
1:03
y'all, welcome to another episode of Black Girl Interrupted. A port y'all noise,
1:07
su Girl Ash, bringing y'all another another another hot topic that has come
1:14
across the headlines. Oh lord, I've done episodes with regards to people being
1:26
killed by the police, that are suffering from mentals, that are going through
1:30
a mental health crisis. I remember two years ago I did a show on
1:36
Patrick Warren Senior, who was a minister from Texas that was whose family called
1:42
nine on one. He was in mental distress and ended up with three bullets
1:48
to the chest. Why does this keep happening? You know why anytime there's
1:53
a mental distress called police are called out. Why is there not a mental
1:57
health team that comes out to assist in these situations? So, um,
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tonight I will be discussing excuse me, y'all, forgive me, forgive me,
2:09
forgive me? Oh hayful, take on my baby. She saved my
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lips? Are lifting girl? That blue? Hub? Yes? Blue?
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Um? I was gonna do green because we are gonna be talking about mental
2:30
mental health. But I said, you know what, Blue, I'm just
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feeling kind of blue today. I'm just and not in a bad way.
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Let me say that I'm not feeling blue in a bad way. UM,
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but I don't know. I was just kind of feeling some blue. Um.
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So tonight, UM, I do want to discuss Melissa and Perez,
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who was the forty six year old um Latino woman in San Antonio that was
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shot by three San Antonio police officers and they are now being charged with murder.
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So UM, y'all already know what I do before I start any show,
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I always do a mental health check in. Um. Again, today
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is Thursday, Happy Thursday. We are one day away from the weekend.
3:17
Uh, how y'all feeling a day. UM, I will say for me
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mentally, I'm good. I will say that these these last few days,
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let me let me, let me back up, these last few weeks,
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UM, have been really beautiful for me. UM. I really was expecting
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Father's Day to be a little difficult, but I made it through, UM
3:46
because I I am now coming to the realization that my father's now coming back.
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UM. Death is a part of life, UM, and we're all
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gonna go one day. UM. I'm just adjusting to his uh him not
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being here in a physical presence. Let me say that. So I am
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adjusting to that. I'm adjusting to my godmother not being here. I missed
4:13
her more than life itself. I would do anything just to uh pug and
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love on her. But I know her and my dad are watching over me
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and to my niece like I miss her so much. UM, and I
4:29
know they're I know they're with me in spirit. So UM. Spiritually,
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mentally, I'm in a beautiful place. I'm excited again for the remainder of
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twenty twenty three and what's gonna come about. But again, y'all already knew
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I do my mental health check ins um, what did my girls say?
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She said blues blues, and she says, I love you in real life.
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I love you in real life, I really do. You have been
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phenomenal to me and I couldn't even and find the words to even say thank
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you like you've just done and you've gone above and beyond for me more than
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anything. So y'all already know what I do before I get started with my
5:11
shows. I always say something empowering and puraging, uplifting, and this is
5:17
definitely gonna be needed for the night. So here we go, and then
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once the videos over, we will jump back into tonight's conversation. So here
5:28
we go. I don't care how good you are, don't care how talented
5:31
you are. I don't care how much you work on yourself. There are
5:34
some times when things I'm gonna go right. There are times when anything that
5:40
can happen will happen. Y'all got a bear with me. That was the
5:44
wrong one. Here we go, y'all, Here we go, Here we
5:46
go. There's two sides of things. There's one side of pain that's the
5:56
suffering in the discomfort side of pain. But then there's another, a stile
6:00
of pain that's called effort, it's called glory, and if you never tap
6:06
into it, it's because the first time you felt that you backed off,
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the first time you feel ah, that burned, the first time you feel
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like it's too much, And we rationalize with ourselves, so will we automatically
6:20
stop? That's why both of us give up so much in life so quickly.
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But suppose I told you the greatest pain of my life, It's the
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reason I'm standing the end of the day. See, sometimes we think the
6:33
pain is what controls us as misassingly, I subconscious mind that if we ever
6:38
tapped into that, that's what dictates most of our lives. And literally,
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what I've learned in these moments is that I have to stop listening to myself
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and I have to start talking to myself. I'm like, Rich, You're
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great. I'm looking to me, like you can do this. Rich,
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you can handle this. Rich is not a big deal. Riches gonna pass.
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You're amazing, Rich, This too shall pass. You got to find
7:00
ways to increase your sense of self appreciation, because if you don't, you're
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bombarded with negative stuff every day that beats you down, and you will find
7:11
yourself unconsciously engage in self destructive behavior. If you don't program yourself, life
7:16
will program you. You gotta get grounded. You got to train your mind
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to serve you. Just make up your mind. This is not going to
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control you. You have got to make a declaration. This is what you
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stand for. You're standing up for your dreams. You're standing up for peace
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of mind, You're standing up for health. You want it, and you're
7:43
gonna go all out to have it. It's not going to be easy when
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you want to change. It's not easy. If it were in fact easy,
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everybody do it. But if you're serious, you go all out and
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say, in spite of this, I'm in control here. I'm gonna turned
8:00
this situation around. I'm not gonna sit back and moan and cry over what
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happened and what went wrong and who didn't what. I'm going to do something
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about this situation. When God gives you a dream, the dream will always
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be tested. The pressure in your life right now has a purpose. It's
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not crushing you. It's cushing what's on the inside of you out. It
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shows you who you are. It's a dog fight. It hasn't been easy.
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It's a dog fight. The role hadn't been succeed. It's just a
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paved role and like each go this way. It's been rough, it's been
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crooked, it's been hard. But I've made up in my mind that I
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will get a reward for the pain that I go through. I will not
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stop. In the middle of the prop said I will not be defeated,
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I will not be destroyed. I will take everything that happens in my life,
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and I will allow to pay to push me to greatness. You will
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not break me, you will not stop me, you will not defeat me.
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The only way I lose is if I quit. It's going to be
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a dog fight. I choose to fight fire. Life is rough. You
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can allow it to destroy you, or you can allow it to build you
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up. Draw the line, ladies and gentlemen, and just say enough is
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enough. Get out of that narrow mindedness, Get out of that defeated mentality,
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Get away from that circle. Get away from those people that don't wish
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you any good, Get away from those people that don't want you to succeed.
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Get out of the tent. Get out. There's nothing as powerful and
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see human spirits. You can't destroy. You can pervert it, but you
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can't destroy if you lose the job, keep the faith. If you lose
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the spouse, keep the faith. If you have to downside, keep the
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faith. If you have to move in with your mama, keep the faith.
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If you have to witch in, keep the faith. If you have
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to catch the bus, keep the faith. If you have the tom,
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keep the faith. If it gets sick, keep the faith. If you're
10:01
losing kidness, keep the faith. If you gotta hard trouble, keep the
10:05
faith. You might not gonna go hard, but you gotta keep your faith.
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If you can't fly, run, if you can't run, walk,
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if you can't walk, crawl, but by all means, keep moving.
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All right, So again, y'all, welcome to another episode of Black Girl,
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interrupted of course with your girl Ash again. I hope everyone is having
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a great Thursday. Again. We're just day away from the weekend. What
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are y'all planning on doing? Me, I'm just I don't know. We'll
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see we will seem but anyway, but again, dropping the comments. Let
11:13
me know how you're feeling mentally, y'all already know every episode I always do
11:16
my mental health check in because I have to make sure y'all are good,
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you know, not only mentally, but spiritually, emotionally, physically, and
11:24
again if any given point in time that you need me to pray with you,
11:28
you anything on your heart, your chest and you want to get it
11:31
off, y'all know I'm always here. My DMS are always open, and
11:37
if you have my number, y'all know you could always took up the phone
11:39
and call, text, whatever, and I'm here. You'll know I'm here
11:41
to show up and just be here and let you know you're not on your
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journey alone alone. So jumping into to nice conversation, I am gonna be
11:56
talking about. I have two cases as a matter of fact that I'm gonna
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be speaking about tonight. This first one, UM is about Melissa and Perez
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who was killed for being mentally ill UM. She was a forty six year
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old mother that resided in San Antonio, Texas, in which police officers were
12:16
called out to the residents. UM witnesses say there was a woman that was
12:20
going around that was cutting the wires to a fire security alarm or something something.
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She was cutting some wires in an apartment complex. UM officers did speak
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with the lady. UM, they got collected all her information and then she
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went into the house, and at which point these police officers were trying to
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coerce her into coming out of her home, to the point where they hopped
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over the balcony of her apartment and pulled the screen off the window, at
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which point um on the video. I am gonna play the video. I
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do want to let you know there is a trigger, a warning, but
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you'll see exactly what transpired and what prompted these three police officers to fire these
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fatal shots into the body of again forty six year old Melissa Anne Forres after
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the video, then we'll just jump back into it. Breaking news first at
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ten, three San Antonio police officers charged with murder after they reportedly shot and
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killed a woman on the Southwest Side, and just the last forty minutes,
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Police Chief William McManus announcing the arrest of these three officers, Sergeant Alfred Flores
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and officers Alissa Alejandro and Nathaniel via Lobos. The chief says they have been
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suspended without pay. Just moments ago, McManus held a news conferenc saying this
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shooting was not consistent with SAPDS policies and training. SAPD also releasing video of
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this morning shooting. That show what unfolded at that woman's apartment, And we
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want to warn you the video you were about to see is disturbing. You
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ain't gonna work Ken's fives. Alsia naves As following the story for US tonight.
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She joins US Live now from Public Safety Headquarters with these latest developments.
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Alicia, it was a swift decision by sapd's homicide unit in a matter of
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hours after reviewing the body camera footage from this morning shooting. All three officers
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who fired their guns are now facing murder charges. Take a look. This
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all started shortly after midnight at an apartment complex called Rosemont at Miller's Pond.
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This is off of Old Piersall Road. Police got a call about a woman
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who was destroying a fire alarm. When officers arrived, they say forty six
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ye old Melissa Bettis appeared to be having a mental health crisis. Chief McManus,
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who reviewed the body camera video today, said the officers tried to get
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Bettis into a patrol car, but she ran back into her apartment. The
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chief said, as the woman was talking to officers through a window, she
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threw a glass candle at police. Officers ordered the woman to come outside,
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but she refused. That's when the chief says, officers jumped over the woman's
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patio railing and she began swinging a hammer, hitting the window. One officer
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fired his weapon, but he didn't hit the woman, but when the woman
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advanced toward the window again, all officers opened fire. Bettis died at the
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scene. The chief said to reporters tonight, his officers made the wrong decision.
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The shooting officers actions were not consistent with sapt's policy and training, and
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they placed themselves in a situation where they use deadly force, which was not
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reasonable given all the circumstances that the three suspended officers charged with murder have a
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combined twenty years with the San Antonio Police Department. Chief McManus ended tonight's press
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conference expressing his condolences to the victim's family. We're live at Public Safety headquarters,
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at least in any office Ken's five, at least I think so much.
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Well, of course, they on top of that store, and we
16:30
have the latest right now at Kent's five dot com. So again, forty
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six year old Melissa Melissa and Perez was shot and killed by the three police
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officers who have now been charged with murder. Again, those three police officers
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charged with murders Officer Elizar Alejandro who is twenty eight eight, Sergeant Alfred Flores
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who was forty five, and then you have Officer Nathaniel Villelobos who's twenty seven
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and as you heard, between the three, they've been with the San Antonio
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Police Department for twenty years. Again, initially they were called out stating that
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there was a woman that was out cutting the wires to a fire security alarm.
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They spoke with a woman, collected the woman's information. She allegedly ran
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into the house and at which time they hopped over the balcony, snatched the
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screen off the door, and you could hear her in the video telling them
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you do not have a warrant. She brandished a hammer in which she threw
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and if I'm not mistaken, I believe it broke the window. But the
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way the police chief described, there was a TV or wall in something that
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separated her and the officers and at which point when they saw her with the
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hammer, Day released fire, killing Melissa and Perez at a scene. Well,
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she passed away on the scene. So my question is again tonight we're
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talking about Melissa and Perez who was actually suffering a mental health crisis and was
18:26
killed. Again, I've done, and I've let me say this, I've
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had conversations about this very same topic. Again. I spoke about Patrick Warren
18:41
Senior. I spoke on the young man in Homer, Louisiana who was having
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a mental health crisis whose mother card nine one one and the son ended up
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dead. We see this happened far, far, far too often. And
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I guess the million dollar question is why continue to send these police officers out
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to these the stress calls and they're not properly trained to handle situations as such.
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I know certain states have a mental health team that police officers can call
19:26
UM when they are when they have been called to seen such as miss Perez
19:33
who was having a mental health crisis. And again I just don't understand when
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police officers come out, they're already height, they already come in on a
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hundred. So when you when you interact, or when you arrive at a
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location where you're dealing with a person that is going through a mental health crisis,
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you have to be properly trained to know how to de escalate that UM.
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At at no point in this situation with Miss Perez, did they even
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try to de escalate, No tasers were pulled. They automatically wanted to shoot
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um. And as the excuse me, the police chief said, they weren't
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in any imminent danger. What they did was not the protocol for San Antonio
20:26
Police Department. So why does this keep happening again? We see this all
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the time. They've been countless stories where excuse me, countless stories where hmm,
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excuse me, y'all had something stuck in my throat. Where give me
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one second? Hold on, I write, y'all my apologies for that something
21:03
got caught in my throat. But we see these cases continuously. I was
21:10
looking at some statistics and you know, preparation for discussing this, and it
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says people with untreated mental illness are sixteen times more likely to be killed during
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a police encounter then other civilians approached to stop by law enforcement. Why is
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that? Like, why are these officers not being properly trained to handle these
21:41
situations and their recourse is to shoot? We just saw this in Los Angeles,
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three black men killed. Then there was another story I want to say
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it was in Baltimore. I know last year there was a story and Home
22:00
of Louisiana, there's been you see the situation with m oh Guy y'all.
22:07
I cannot think of his name, but he was shot while laying in the
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middle of the street. He was having a mental health crisis and he was
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killed. So again, what I don't understand this Why keep sending these police
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officers out to these situations and they're not properly trained or they're not calling in
22:30
a mental health crisis team to come in to assist with the situation. I'm
22:37
not understanding that. Again, I just when I tell you, I'm so
22:42
tired of doing these stories. But it's necessary, it's imperative for us to
22:48
continue to have these conversations because mental health is at all time mental illnesses at
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all time high, between the pandemic, but the police brutality cases, this
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is starting to rise, between the bullying, mental illnesses starting to rise.
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And here we are, we're still trying to handle mental health situations and now
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we're having these police officers that are being called to these mental health distresses,
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that are being summoned to these mental health distressed calls and these people end up
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there. It makes zero sense to me. I think my biggest concern,
23:38
or my biggest issue is when it comes to mental health, there's not enough
23:47
providers. There are not enough people out here that are able to go out
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and assist. We see a again, y'all. We see this all the
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time. We see this every time you turn on the news, you see
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a person killed suffering a mental health crisis. You saw the young man in
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La who was related to I believe he was a cousin of one of the
24:18
founders of the Black Lives Matter was having a mental health crisis and they killed.
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So here's a mental health expert that wants to weigh in on police coming
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to these mental health distress calls. And then I want to get back into
24:41
the conversation. First step time new updates about three San Antonio police officers charged
24:48
with a woman's murder. Right now, Officers Lejandro and Nathaniel Va Lobos and
24:55
surgeon Alfred Floyds are all out on bond, and in the last half hour,
25:00
just learned that former Bear County District Attorney Nica LaHood will be representing officer
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v Lobo's body camera video shows the officers jumping the railing to Melissa Betas's apartment
25:11
patio and opening her window. Friday morning, police say she threw a candle
25:15
at the officers and approached them with a hammer before all three open fire,
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and in a statement today, District Attorney Joe Gonzalez said investigators with his office's
25:26
Civil Rights Division will fully review the evidence and prepare the cases for presentation to
25:33
the grand jury. Police Chief William McManus as Betaz was appearing to have a
25:37
mental health episode and the use of deadly force was not reasonable. KINSPI reporter
25:42
Meghan Raina is live outside public Safety headquarters after talking with an expert about why
25:48
crisis intervention training is critical. Megan I spoke with a licensed professional counselor with
25:56
Family Services who's how to history with training law enforcement in the past. He
26:02
says this department is known for its extensive crisis management training, which is why
26:07
he's left wondering why that training wasn't put to use Friday morning. Law enforcement
26:15
has a responsibility, which is why they do so much training regarding it to
26:19
respond to those episodes in a safe and caring manner. But Police Chief William
26:26
McManus says what happened to Melissa Perez was inconsistent with the department's policy and training.
26:33
Licensed professional counselor phil Enostrosa Travers says, when dealing with someone in the
26:37
midst of a mental health episode, communication is key. Trying to talk with
26:42
him, reason with them, and if that's not working, another method in
26:48
a situation like this might be simply to withdraw she's not in danger of hurting
26:52
herself or anyone inside the home, have other resources come to the scene.
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Perez's family says she's been diagnosed with schizophrenia. They may respond with aggression if
27:03
they're having an episode, you know. Strossa. Traverse says that episode could
27:07
include delusions and hallucinations, and they may perceive situations as highly threatening were very
27:14
dangerous to themselves, when in fact they may not be, which is why
27:18
he says knowing how to deescalate during a mental health episode is crucial when it
27:22
comes to responding compassion. I think it's the key. San Antonio Police have
27:33
a mental health unit that's been around since two thousand and eight now tonight.
27:37
I did reach out to the department to learn how many officers are on that
27:41
unit, if any of them responded to that crime scene Friday. I have
27:45
not heard back. Reporting from Public Safety headquarters. Megan barna Kin's fine.
27:52
So again, so you hear that they actually have a department that these police
28:00
officers could have called to come out to assist with the situation, and exactly
28:07
what that mental health expert stated. It's accurate because if you're seeing if you
28:15
see a lot of these videos where police are responding to these mental health distress
28:21
calls, they already come on a hundred. So when you're dealing with a
28:27
person that is battling or is in a mental health crisis, you got to
28:34
be mindful with how you approach the situation. There's and I'm not going to
28:45
get emotional this show, but they are already aggravated. The person that is
28:53
going through the mental health crisis, they're already aggravated. So when you come
28:59
to a city situation and you're meeting their energy, you're only you're you're not
29:04
even trying to do It's almost like you're not even trying to de escalate the
29:07
situation. It's almost like you're trying to entice it. It's like throwing kerosene
29:14
on a fire that's trying to go out. So it's like you're, I
29:18
mean, what's the word, I'm and I just had the word in my
29:23
mind, literally just went blinked. But here you are, You're dealing with
29:32
a person again, that's that's having a mental crisis, that's already aggressive.
29:37
Police officers already come on a hundred, not all, but some because a
29:42
majority this is what we see in a majority of these cases. With miss
29:48
Perez, we saw we saw this same incident that escalated with Patrick Warren Senior.
29:53
He was not aggressive, he had no weapon, but somehow he ended
30:00
up with three bullets to the chest. Again, some of these police departments
30:06
have mental experts. They have departments where you can call and have someone come
30:11
out that is properly trained. But that goes back to the responsibility of these
30:18
police departments. Are you ensuring and properly training your police officers on how to
30:25
handle these situations so they do not result in death because we're seeing this far
30:33
too often. Again. I did this story on Patrick Warrant Senior two years
30:37
ago. I've done another story on another jet I can't recall his name.
30:45
I've even talked about the women that have suffered mental health crisis and have died
30:52
at the hands of police officers. So my question is One of the things
31:00
that I want to know is how mental illness affects police shooting fatalities. I've
31:07
told you and I've showed you that people with untreated mental illness are sixteen times
31:15
more likely to be killed during a police encounter then other civilians approached or stop
31:22
by law enforcement, sixteen times more then your average person that's being pulled over,
31:33
maybe for a traffic stop, maybe law enforcement is called because the person
31:41
won't leave a restaurant. This is what we're seeing on a regular Again,
31:48
we're already trying to find a balance with mental health. Now you have to
31:53
add on the fact that people that are going through the crisis are now becoming
32:00
police shooting fatalities when empathy and compassion goes a long way. Again, I'm
32:12
not understanding why law enforcement, why are you approaching these scenes on a hundred.
32:23
I know when you're call in. I know when a person calls nine
32:27
one one, I know when I know dispatches telling you, hey, we
32:30
have a mental health distress call at one, two, three, ABC Lane,
32:37
y'all know the situation. So I just me my honest opinion, why
32:43
don't you just call and have the mental health department and route to meet you
32:49
there so that way we don't end up with more of these fatalities. That's
32:59
my als on that, that's my opinions, and I'm only speaking as a
33:01
person that suffers from mental illness. I think, God, you know,
33:06
I've never had the police called on me, but I'm seeing this, I'm
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witnessing this, and it just really saddens me that mental health. It's almost
33:22
like y'all are not taking mental mental health seriously. And this extensive training that
33:30
falls on the department, that falls on the city. It's up to you,
33:36
as as a police department, for y'all to ensure that these officers are
33:44
properly trained on how to handle and assist these mental health to stress calls.
33:51
I remember, I want to say, maybe that was early this year,
33:52
maybe late last year. A woman in Oklahoma had locked us up in the
33:58
bathroom, was having a mental health crisis, and they were antagonizing the woman,
34:04
these Oklahoma police officers pantagonizing the woman. And I know for a fact
34:12
that Oklahoma has a mental health response team that could be called out to assist
34:17
in situations when you're dealing with someone that's having a mental health crisis. So
34:24
how mental illness affects these police shooting fatalities because they're being killed sixteen times more
34:35
than any other person, or, let me say this, any other civilian
34:39
that's approached or stopped by law enforcement. So is that the same amount are
34:50
people that become fatalities at traffic stops. I'm a little curious about that,
35:01
you know, Looking at Melissa, miss Perez, I'm so sorry Miss Perez's
35:07
situation and these three officers being charged with murder. What about the other police
35:15
officers that have done this, that have gotten away with murder? Because that's
35:20
exactly what it is. This woman pulls no threat to you, she pulls
35:29
no threat to herself. But for you to hop over that, that's that's
35:36
that's the issue that I have, for you to hop over the balcony for
35:43
what? For what? To me? I think in that moment, when
35:52
he hopped over that balcony and snatched the screen off of her window, you
35:59
escalated the situation. You poured kerosene on a fire that was almost extinguished.
36:08
Because again, this woman was diagnosed with being schizophrenic. Schizophrenics and y'all correct
36:19
me if I'm wrong. I believe they feel like people are talking to them,
36:22
they hear voices. And I could be wrong on schizophrenia, let me
36:28
let me see, but I'm almost positive when it comes to schizophrenia, I
36:32
believe they hear voices. So when in that moment when Miss Perezz saw this
36:42
officer jump over her bout, it scared her. It frightened her, so
36:45
she got even more aggressive, or she got even more heightened, like the
36:52
situation got heightened even more. And I think she was in a point where
36:55
she was really trying to relax and calm down because she was telling them,
37:00
you don't have a warrant. You don't have a warrant. You can't come
37:02
into my home. You don't have a warrant. And so when you when
37:07
you he hopped over and he snatched the screen off the window. Now she
37:10
goes into defense mode. But again, what warranted three police officers? Three
37:21
two fire shots at one time? Three police officers. Let me let me
37:25
calm down before my blood pressure gets up, because again three, it did
37:32
not take three police officers to take this woman down. Three police officers shot
37:40
her, fired multiple rounds at Miss Melissa and Peretz. Three three officers fired
37:53
shots. Three and again their names Officer Elizar Alejandro who is twenty eight.
38:09
You have Sergeant Alfred Floresz who was forty five, and then you have Officer
38:15
Nathaniel Villelobos who's twenty seven. That in a combination, they've been on the
38:22
force twenty years, all three in total, three officers for one woman.
38:36
Let me take a deep breath on this, because y'all this really touched me
38:43
because I could only imagine what that woman was feeling in that moment. She's
38:52
battling this, this this mental health crisis that she's having. Then you have
38:59
these officers that are antagonizing you. Maybe is that the word I want to
39:07
use, antagonizing her to the point where she went into defense mode, to
39:14
the point where she grabbed a hammer, to the point where three police officers
39:21
fired their discharged their weapons at one time, killing Melissa and Perez, who
39:30
had just recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia. I just prayed your iss her for
39:40
this for the family, because it absolutely did not warrant that us a force.
39:49
And again, San Antonio has a department for mental health that they could
39:59
have called. They could have called and said, hey, we have a
40:07
person out here who we believe may or may not be going through a mental
40:10
health crisis. We need you out here. But again, they didn't approach
40:21
the situation. They approached very aggressively. Again, where is the empathy for
40:27
people these days? It's almost like this world lacks the empathy. You came
40:34
in aggressive, you were speaking to it, you got an information, she
40:39
went into the house, and it just snowballed from there. It went down.
40:52
From there, you have this woman whose life has been violently taken and
41:00
a family left with a lot of questions. Will we get will will justice
41:07
be served? I hope so I hope and pray that justice is served for
41:13
the family of miss Perez. But again, you heard from the mental health
41:19
expert itself that you have to approach these situations with empathy. You have to
41:28
be calm, and you have to be patient with a person that is going
41:31
through a mental health crisis, because when they are in that mold they come
41:37
into, they become very defensive, very combative, because they feel like you're
41:43
trying to attack them. So they know to I have to protect myself.
41:47
I have to um going to defense mode. That's what they have to do.
41:58
And it's very sad that unfortunately this is not happening in these situations.
42:05
Again, we're having more mental health I'm sorry, mental mental illness, distress
42:12
fatalities than anything or Hi, honey, I hope you're having a good night
42:20
at work. Thank you. Oh you're like the blue Thank you, pleady.
42:22
I love you honey anyway, babe, But again, I really hope
42:27
you're having a good night at work, and I love you so again.
42:31
Welcome everybody to another episode. A black girl interrupted to night. I am
42:37
talking about Melissa and Perez, the forty six year old woman that was killed
42:42
in San Antonio at the hands of the San Antonio Police Department. Again,
42:47
she was forty six years old, she was going she was suffering a mental
42:51
health crisis, and these three police officers proceeded to jump over her balcony,
42:58
snatch the screen for her window, and they shot her. All three police
43:05
officers fired, I'm sorry, discharge their weapons, killing Melissa and Peretts.
43:12
So again, the million dollar question is why why is this consistently happening?
43:24
Why are we seeing more and more cases and more and more stories of this.
43:30
I understand as a police officer, it's a stressful job. I get
43:35
it, But this is what you're signed up for So if you can't come
43:43
in and try to de escalate a mental illness, a mental distress, call,
43:49
please some call somebody that can call, somebody that could come in and
43:53
assess and address and de escalate, so that way we have no more fatalities.
44:00
Because that's what's happening again. You look at the situation in La Three
44:07
men that we're having mental health crisis were killed by the Los Angeles Police Department.
44:15
One of the gentlemen I'm gonna speak about tonight, and I hope this
44:21
reaches his wife because I know she's still fighting for justice for her husband who
44:28
was suffering a mental health crisis and was killed. And now I believe the
44:38
mate, not the mayor. I believe the police, the commissioner. I'm
44:44
so sorry. Let me get this correct. The chief is investigating these cases.
44:52
This is in La Los Angeles, California. But again we're talking about
45:01
how mental illness affects police shooting fatalities. I really think, and this is
45:14
just my honest opinion, more funding needs to go into mental health and mental
45:22
health training, and less of funding going to these different countries. I'm not
45:30
understanding. Why are we not taking care of our own here in the United
45:32
States, I have seen funding being lessened when it comes to mental health,
45:45
which is my next question. Why are these programs designed for mental health issues
45:53
so underfunded? Why y'all know mental illness is at an all time high right
46:02
now? Do y'all not understand suicide is the third leading cause of death in
46:10
the Black community. And again, I'm not saying it doesn't happen in white
46:16
communities. I'm not saying it doesn't happen in Asian communities. I'm not saying
46:21
it doesn't happen in the Latino community. I'm not saying that at all.
46:24
But what I am seeing, suicide, y'all, is at an all time
46:31
high. Here we are again, we're trying to get a hold of mental
46:40
health because we're seeing suicide rates increase. And then you add on the fact
46:50
that you have these police brutality cases, we had the pandemic. All that
46:55
is playing a major factor in the mental health crisis. But yet the world
47:01
is not trying to address the issue. Y'all would rather send money over to
47:07
these other countries instead of helping your own. And what I'm about to say,
47:16
y'all could get on your soapbox. All you want. But all the
47:22
money that they spent trying to find this titan submarine that went to try to
47:28
go look at the Titanic, you could have used utilized that money and put
47:34
that towards mental health. There are so there's so many things that y'all could
47:42
do to allocate funding towards mental health instead of giving it to these foreign countries.
47:51
We need to address the homeless issue here in the United States. You
47:55
won't get funding to them, you won't help them. But mental illness is
48:02
at an all time high right now. People are stressed, People are people
48:13
have been diagnosed or misdiagnosed or under diagnosed with mental illness, and they're going
48:22
through these crisis. Police officers are being called out. Police officers come in
48:28
at a hundred and someone ends up there. Why I need to understand why
48:39
are these programs designed for mental health issues so underfunded? Why why are you
48:46
not trying to fix and address a problem that is plaguing America. But y'all
48:59
would rather to utilize that money and spend it elsewhere. Y'all would rather spend
49:07
the money on unnecessary things instead of fixing and address you know what, let
49:15
me not even say fixing but addressing the mental health crisis here in the United
49:21
States. Then you have these police officers again that are not properly trained to
49:36
handle when a person is in mental distress. No empathy, no compassion,
49:50
no understanding. I just pray. I pray. I pray for the for
50:07
the United States, I pray for the mental I pray that if you are
50:14
suffering a mental health crisis, I pray that I don't have to sit up
50:17
here and tell your story. We need to do better, We absolutely need
50:30
to do better, because again I'm not understanding why these programs are not being
50:39
properly funded. I just don't understand. And then the next question, should
50:52
officer us be called in to handle mental illness situations? Drop in the comments
50:59
on your I'll let me know what do you think? How do y'all feel?
51:01
Do you feel if a person is going through a mental health crisis,
51:07
should they call the police? Should they call the police? Me, I'm
51:16
gonna be honest with you, I would rather you call a mental health crisis
51:27
team versus the police officer, because again, these police officers are coming they
51:36
don't care, they're overworked, they're stressed, so they're coming in and they're
51:43
taking the anger and frustration out on the person. I've watched multiple videos,
51:51
countless videos, and I've seen the way these police officers arrive. They come
51:57
with their hands already on their guns. What seems to be the problem?
52:00
What dispatch has already told you. Dispatch has told you, hey, we
52:07
have a person here that's going through a mental health that's in a mental health
52:12
distress right now. It's a mental health distress situation that, in your mind,
52:17
as a human, should say, you know what, we need to
52:22
approach this with caution and some empathy. I remember the story again, I'm
52:29
not sure if it was in Baltimore where a family called because the woman's husband
52:36
was having a mental health distress and they stayed. Within fifteen seconds of the
52:39
police arriving, this young man was killed. And when they played the the
52:49
dispatch called the nine on one operator called you hear the wife on the phone
52:53
says, he has a history. It's been documented that he suffered from mental
53:00
illness. So you know this. But these police officers come to these situations
53:08
already, hight they get out of the car, hand has already on the
53:15
gun. You don't even know, you haven't even you're just getting out of
53:20
the car. You haven't even assessed the situation. If you have a mental
53:30
health crisis team that could come out and assist, I advise that you call
53:35
them. If this is too much for you to handle, call somebody that
53:40
has been properly trained to assist in these situations, and maybe we won't have
53:49
any more mental health police fatalities. That's all I'm saying. So, in
53:57
my honest opinion, absolutely not. I do not feel like officers should be
54:00
called the hand to handle mental illness situation. I just don't believe. I
54:05
just don't believe they should. Again, if the state or the police department
54:08
has a crisis team, please call them. Please call that crisis team to
54:15
come out and assystue so another person doesn't end up dead by no fault of
54:21
their own, by no fault of their own. So that I think I
54:30
just answered my own question as to why these programs designed for mental health issues
54:36
are so underfunded, because they would rather allocate the money for bull than for
54:42
what it really needs to be allocated for. Because a lot of these mental
54:45
health facilities, they cut the funding into these the facilities to help these patients
55:00
such a sad sad sad freaking world we live in. But hey, welcome
55:04
to America. But again, to the family of Melissa and Perez, my
55:13
thoughts and prayers and condolences are with you in your time of bereavement. Miss
55:17
Melissa should still be here. That situation should not have escalated and went as
55:24
far as it did to where it resulted in death. And now these three
55:30
police officers have been charged with murder. The only thing we could do is
55:37
just sit and wait and be patient and pray that justice is served for the
55:42
family of Miss Melissa and Perez. Love and prayers to her daughter. So
55:51
sad. So now I move on to Missa to Car Smith. To Car
55:58
Smith. It's from Los Angeles, California. His wife, Nettie called Natty.
56:07
I'm so sorry. Natty called the police officer due to the husband experiencing
56:13
a mental health crisis and mister to Car ended up dead. I do have
56:21
the video. It's only about two minutes long. Two minutes in, like
56:28
thirty five For the seconds loan I want to play in and then I want
56:31
to jump back into the conversation about these fatalities as a result of being mental
56:38
ill at the hands of police officers. Here we go been three fatal police
56:45
killings in Los Angeles in one week. Today, the family if the car
56:49
Smith is calling for justice as the police chief fights to keep his job.
56:52
Fox Love and Susan Here sooner joining his life in downtown LA with their story
56:57
susan Jee. Michael Moore was not made available to us today, but Wednesday
57:02
he did express his deep concerns about those three deadly forced incidents. The one
57:08
that is probably most troubling is the case of Tacar Smith because from the beginning
57:14
on January second, his wife told police that he was mentally ill. She
57:20
mentioned there was a nine kitchen, but that's it, No, the weapons
57:22
in the apartment. I wanted the police to help me, and they fell,
57:27
and they really felled me. Jimmyka Smith wanted her husband violating a protective
57:31
order out of her home. She did not want him dead. She tried
57:35
to prevent this from happening by literally walking to the police station and showing them
57:38
video instead of just calling them and saying, hey, we're having a mental
57:43
illness crisis. But she did tell police to car Smith was mentally ill multiple
57:46
times, and Bonnie Warren camera video shows a nearly fifteen minute encounter with the
57:52
been three fatal police killings in Los Angeles in one week. Today, the
57:58
family if to Car Smith is calling for justice as the police chief fights to
58:01
keep his job. Fox Love and Susan here soon joining us live in downtown
58:06
LA with their story. Susan Jeef Michael Moore was not made available to us
58:12
today, but Wednesday he did express his deep concerns about those three deadly forced
58:16
incidents. The one that is probably most troubling is the case of to Car
58:22
Smith because from the beginning on January second, his wife told police that he
58:27
was mentally ill. She mentioned there was a knife in kitchen, but that's
58:30
it, No, the weapons in the apartment. I wanted the police to
58:34
help me and they and they really fell me. Jamika Smith wanted her husband
58:40
violating a protective order out of her home. She did not want him dead.
58:45
She tried to prevent this from happening by literally walking to the police station
58:49
and showing them video instead of just calling them and saying, hey, we're
58:52
having a mental illness crisis. But she did tell police to Car Smith was
58:55
mentally ill multiple times and Bonnie Warren camera video show was a nearly fifteen minute
59:00
encounter with the forty five year old that shows him at times cooperative and just
59:06
talk to me, okay, just talk to your career, and other times
59:09
exhibiting signs of a mental break from reality right now. Smith used a chair
59:17
and a bite defensively, but it was the kitchen knife that turned the situation
59:23
for him. Officers used both pepper spray and multiple tasers to get controlled dropped
59:34
the knife, but when he picked it up and raised it over his head,
59:37
officers fired umped Carl Mugre and he needed him. He didn't need you
59:44
still have a Wednesday. Chief Michael Moore expressed his concerns about Smith's death and
59:49
two others at the hands of his officers. In Smith's case, there was
59:52
plenty of time to call for a mental health support team. At no point
59:55
during this call was our Mental Evaluation unit called for assistant source support or one
1:00:01
of our system wide Mental Assessment teams, also known as SMART. Smith is
1:00:06
the father to six children, the youngest is eight. Middle Health runs in
1:00:09
every color, but why only black skinny shot well to s A. Chief
1:00:16
Michael Moore seemed more forthcoming than usual about these three deadly forced incidents. He
1:00:22
is waiting for Karen Bass to make a decision as mayor as to whether he
1:00:27
will serve another term. She is known to have a different attitude about the
1:00:30
LAPD than her predecessor. Reporting live in downtown La Susan here sooner foxil of
1:00:36
a news. Let me say this, let me take a deep breath,
1:00:54
let me let me, let me, let me take this in, let
1:00:58
me soak this in um. And I'm sorry, y'all, it was the
1:01:01
glitch. So I had to stop and restart the video like it had glitched
1:01:06
for just a quick moment. So that's why y'all saw the video twice.
1:01:08
So my apologies for that first and foremost, but the family of to Car
1:01:16
Smith, my heart, prayers and condolences go out to you in your time
1:01:24
of bereavement. Number two, the same situation with miss Melissa and Perez resulted
1:01:36
with mister t Car Smith. There was a mental health team that could have
1:01:42
and should have been called in this situation. The wife went to the police
1:01:49
department and told them my husband suffers from mental illness. I need some help,
1:01:59
and then that any given time did they call for a mental health response
1:02:07
team to come out and assist. Why why you had ample time you had
1:02:23
plenty of time to call for a mental health response team to come out and
1:02:31
assist you with the situation. Mister Tacar didn't have to Mister Smith didn't have
1:02:36
to die, but you killed him. The wife explained to you and told
1:02:44
you, I just needed you to help me. My husband is going through
1:02:47
a mental health crisis right now, Help me, not kill him. She
1:02:52
didn't call you to kill him. She called you to help. And at
1:02:57
no given point in time did you call all the mental health response team to
1:03:02
come out. And you had ample time. The time that y'all were standing
1:03:06
out there speaking with a wife, someone could have been on the phone calling
1:03:09
somebody to come and assist with the situation. Missus Smith. Life didn't have
1:03:14
to end on January third. It didn't have to end. But this is
1:03:22
what we're starting. This is this is what we're seeing. This is exactly
1:03:25
what I mean when I see police officers are not being I just really feel
1:03:32
like, y'all, y'all shouldn't even go to these calls. I feel like
1:03:38
the only time y'all should come is when you feel like there's an imminent threat,
1:03:43
and I feel like that call should be made by the mental health response
1:03:47
Team. That's who I feel should make that call. I think there needs
1:03:52
to be a designated phone number that is specifically routed to the mental health response
1:04:00
team to come out. And I think once they get there and they assess
1:04:06
the situation, I think they should make the determination on who if they need
1:04:14
back. Let me say that if they need an officer to come out and
1:04:16
assist. But that's what I'm saying. And I'm only speaking as a person
1:04:20
that has that suffers with mental illness. Okay, I don't I may not
1:04:25
be bipolar or schizophrenic, but I suffer with the form of mental illness.
1:04:33
Mister to Car Smith's life did not have to end that day. I hope
1:04:40
this video reaches the wife. I hope the wife sees this video because I
1:04:45
want you to know, Miss Smith, I'm on your side. I'm on
1:04:48
your team. I'm here to advocate for your husband. I'm here to advocate
1:04:55
and get the word out on behalf of your family as well as your husband,
1:05:02
because this should not happen. And we're seeing more and more and more
1:05:09
and more stories and cases and situations like this, and the brother was correct.
1:05:15
Blacks and browns, I've seen white people have these mental health crisis and
1:05:23
they leave unscathed. But when it comes to blacks and browns, to whole
1:05:33
different situations, a whole different ending for us. Again, the young man,
1:05:40
I want to say, like I said, I want to say that
1:05:42
was in Baltimore, who was bipolar and he was schizophrenic, whose wife and
1:05:49
I believe the mother, his mother had called telling them, Hey, we
1:05:53
need someone to come out here, We need y'all to help us, and
1:05:56
they say, within fifteen I want to say, fifteen seconds of the police
1:06:00
arriving, this young man was dead. But it was documented. It was
1:06:08
heard on the nine one one operator on the dispatch call. You hear the
1:06:13
wife telling you he is documented that he has a mental illness. He suffers
1:06:16
from bipolar and he suffered from schizophrenia. It was documented. So in that
1:06:24
moment, y'all know this dispatcher's why are you not sending out a mental health
1:06:33
response team? While the officers were sitting and speaking with mister Smith's wife,
1:06:44
someone could have been on the phone call and hey, we have miss Smith
1:06:47
out here who's reported her husband is going through a mental health crisis. We
1:06:51
need someone from the from the mental health response team out here. That's all
1:06:57
it took. This situation could have been totally different, had someone have called,
1:07:06
had someone have acted properly. Because Miss Smith came to when she told
1:07:13
you, my husband suffers from mental illness and right now he's in crisis,
1:07:23
you didn't have to kill him. So to you, Miss Smith, and
1:07:28
to your children, God bless you. I love you. I'm praying for
1:07:31
you. I pray that justice is served. I pray that these police officers
1:07:39
are held accountable for the death of your husband. I prayed that I pray
1:07:47
for you on that because it didn't have to go that way. You have
1:07:54
a children without a father. You have a wife without a husband. You
1:07:58
have a mother without a son. You have a brother without a son.
1:08:00
You have loved ones without without a family member, all because you guys didn't
1:08:10
take the proper protocol. You guys didn't handle the situation properly. Where's the
1:08:21
empathy. I'm not getting emotional, y'all, I'm not Where is the sympathy?
1:08:29
Where is the empathy for situations like this? Because mister Perez's life didn't
1:08:38
have to end, Mister Smith's life didn't have to end. Patrick Warren Senior's
1:08:43
life didn't have to end, and the countless others. It's almost like,
1:08:51
if you suffer from mental illness and you're going through a crisis, don't call
1:08:55
the police because you may end up deceased. That's what that feels like.
1:09:04
Y'all are supposed to come and and no empathy, no empathy whatsoever, these
1:09:20
families are left to suffer. I believe this is part of the reason why
1:09:30
people don't trust the police. I fear this is why people don't want to
1:09:40
call the police, for fear that death may be the end results. I
1:09:50
have a feeling that this is why the law is not respected amongst the police
1:10:00
brutality cases that we see as well. But your loved one mental distress in
1:10:10
your calling, I need you to help me, and you come and you
1:10:19
take my husband away from me, or you take my sister away from me,
1:10:23
my brother away from me, my mother away from me, all because
1:10:28
you lacked the empathy and the compassion of a person that is dealing and battling
1:10:39
with mental illness. So again, to the family of Miss Melissa Perez and
1:10:47
to the family of mister t car Smith, I love y'all. My thoughts
1:10:54
and prayers are with y'all. I pray for peace most but most of all,
1:11:09
I pray for justice because the police officers in Miss Perez's case, I
1:11:17
hope, I hope they are convicted of murder because that was cold blooded murder.
1:11:24
And mister Carsmith's case, I pray that the police officer is charged,
1:11:33
convicted, and sentenced or officers in the death of mister Carsmith. I pray
1:11:42
justices serve for both of these families because these two situations did not have to
1:11:47
end the way that they did. Both of these cases, both I'm sorry
1:11:53
both of these stories. Both of these cities have a mental health crisis response
1:11:59
team that could have been called in, but your officers chose not to do
1:12:06
that. You chose not to You know this, y'all know the police chief
1:12:16
said, no one called Smart, which is their mental health response team.
1:12:25
No one called that minute and a half or two minutes, whatever however long
1:12:29
it was. They were standing out there speaking with a wife. One of
1:12:31
the officers that was on the scene could have said, hold on a minute,
1:12:35
let's get Smart over here. Let's get them to come over here and
1:12:39
assist us with this. Let's let them come over here and de escalate the
1:12:43
situation. We can get him calmed down. Maybe if we get him calmed
1:12:47
down, he'll be less aggressive, and maybe we could do what we need
1:12:53
to do. But no, y'all did not do that in any one of
1:12:57
these situations. So now you have these families that are suffered. Now you
1:13:00
have these two families that are grieving and mourning the loss of their loved one
1:13:03
because you police officers did not act responsibly in this situation. And I'm gonna
1:13:10
see you did not act responsibly in this situation. And now you have two
1:13:17
families that are grieving the loss of their loved one when you simply could have
1:13:24
called the crisis team to come out and assist. That's what could have been
1:13:30
done, but y'all chose otherwise, and you have left these two families to
1:13:40
grieve and pray justice has served in the death of their loved ones. That's
1:13:48
what it boils down to. That's where we're sad, ladies and gentlemen.
1:13:53
That's that's what's the gist of it. There's no if AND's the butts about
1:13:59
it. But this is what's going on. People are going through these mental
1:14:09
health crisis. Police officers are called nine times out of ten if you're a
1:14:16
black or brown, you're gonna you may end up deceased. You may very
1:14:26
well end up that way, and that's a bad thing. And I'm not
1:14:30
wishing that. Let me let me clarify that, I'm not wishing that.
1:14:34
But it's almost like, you're damned if you do, you're damned. If
1:14:38
you don't, you're called the police, you're running the risk of somebody losing
1:14:43
their life. But again, in these two situations, there was a crisis
1:14:53
team that could have been called. Someone could have been called to assist.
1:15:00
And I feel like, and I'm gonna say this again, whenever it's a
1:15:04
mental health to stress call, I really feel like it's up to the crisis
1:15:09
team to make the decision whether or not they need backup or otherwise. Because
1:15:16
these police officers acted very irrationally, and you had the means to call someone
1:15:21
to come in and assist you, but you chose not to. You're chose
1:15:30
not to. So to the families of Miss Perez and mister Smith, I
1:15:41
pray justice to serve. My prayers go out to the children that were left
1:15:47
behind, to the families that were left behind, to the families that are
1:15:50
still that are trying to pick up the pieces and move on the best way
1:15:56
they know how. Pray for you. My heart absolutely goes out to you,
1:16:05
and I will continue to advocate for mental health. I will continue to
1:16:15
pray that the world will start looking at mental health seriously and not as a
1:16:21
joke. I pray that they will start allocating more funds to mental health because
1:16:31
again, these mental health crisis are at an all time high. The programs
1:16:43
are underfunded, understaff. I get it, but we have to do we
1:16:55
have as a community. We have to do better. As as as a
1:16:59
people, y'all, we have to do better, especially when it comes to
1:17:01
mental health. We have to or we're gonna consistently see cases in stories like
1:17:13
this every time and this be the end result. So again, I firmly
1:17:25
believe I do not believe officers should be called in to handle mental illness situations.
1:17:31
I just don't believe that they should. I feel like, again,
1:17:36
if there is a crisis team that is available, I feel like that's who
1:17:41
the call needs to be routed too, and they need to come out and
1:17:45
allow the mental health crisis team to assess the situation and allow them to determine.
1:17:51
Yes, I need you to go ahead and send an officer out here.
1:17:55
I need them to make the determination. That's just my opinion. Because
1:18:01
we're seeing too many of these mental health police fatalities. We're seeing too much
1:18:11
of this. We're starting to see the effects that mental illness has on police
1:18:17
shooting fatalities. They're shooting first and asking questions later. They're not assessing the
1:18:25
situation. They're not trying to de escalate the situation. You're not trying to
1:18:30
find out what's going on because you're too busy coming with your with your with
1:18:32
your guns. Damn, they're already drawn because you get out of the car,
1:18:35
put your hand already on your gun. But if anybody's listening, if
1:18:43
anybody's in politics or a higher rank in the office, somebody please get this
1:18:50
to the higher ups. And can we create and designate a line that is
1:18:58
strictly for paper for people to call in who may be experienced in a mental
1:19:04
health crisis themselves or a loved one. Can we get that I'm sorry,
1:19:10
y'all. Can we get that in motion? Can we get that in every
1:19:15
state? Can we get that allocated in every state, every city, every
1:19:19
police department, Can we please have that? Can we get a crisis response
1:19:24
team that can come out and assist when you are called out for mental for
1:19:29
a mental health call, a mental illness call. That's all I'm asking.
1:19:33
What do I have to do? Who do I need to call? Y'all
1:19:35
help me tell me who I need to call, because I want to help
1:19:40
these families, because these situations should not end this week. So again,
1:19:50
I do not feel like police officers need to be called in to handle mental
1:19:54
illness situations. That's my opinion. I'm gonna stand on that. I'm saying
1:19:59
that with my whole chest. Some of y'all may agree. Some of y'all
1:20:00
may disagree, but I'm speaking as a person that suffers from mental illness and
1:20:09
I'm not directed. Let me let me and let me first, let me
1:20:12
say this again. I'm not saying this about all police officers, but a
1:20:16
majority of these police officers that are involved in the killing people that are having
1:20:27
mental health crisis. I think again, there should be a designated phone number
1:20:33
that we should be able to call whenever we need to report a love one
1:20:39
that's hey, I need to speak with so and so. Yes, my
1:20:44
husband, my wife, my girlfriend, my son, my daughter, whatever
1:20:48
I need someone out here, can we get can we get a smart team
1:20:51
out here. I believe that's what they're called in LA, which assists with
1:20:58
people that are in a mental health crisis. I don't I'm not sure if
1:21:03
we have it here in Texas, but I feel like, again, that
1:21:06
should be allocated to every city, in every state, in every police department.
1:21:12
It needs to be a designated phone number where we could call and where
1:21:16
they send out a person that is properly trained and equipped to handle when a
1:21:26
person is in mental health distress. That's just my opinion. That's what that's
1:21:31
what I feel. I'm saying that with my whole chest. I'm standing on
1:21:35
that. So again, if this video gets to mister Smith's wife, if
1:21:41
this gets to missus Perez's family, just no, I'm standing behind y'all,
1:21:45
ten toes down. Whatever I can do to assist. I'm here whatever we
1:21:53
have to do to pull together, to try to get designated phone numbers where
1:21:58
it's just strictly for people that are having mental health crisis. If if you
1:22:02
need me to be a part of that a fight of that, I'm here.
1:22:05
And this goes not just for those families, but the other countless families
1:22:11
who have lost loved ones who are in a mental health crisis at the hands
1:22:15
of police officers. So it's for you too as well. That's what we
1:22:24
have to do. That's that's what we got to do as a people,
1:22:27
y'all. So the last situation for the night is the aftermath. Where do
1:22:35
we go from here? I think I pretty much just summed that up.
1:22:41
Where do we go from here? We have to work as a community to
1:22:45
where we have again a designated line that is only for people that are calling
1:22:56
when they're when them or their loved ones are experiencing a mental health crisis.
1:23:04
That's where I think it should go. That's that's where do we go.
1:23:11
That's that's where we go from here. We need the fighting. We need
1:23:14
to continue advocating for more funding to be put in mental illness. More resources
1:23:21
need to be provided to the black and brown community. We see all types
1:23:29
of resources for the white community, but never enough for the black community or
1:23:32
the brown community. But y'all already know that any resources that I run across,
1:23:45
I always post here you are right here. I have the African American
1:23:53
and Black specific mental health resources. You have the Black Emotional and Mental Health
1:24:00
Collective known as BEAM and as B e a M. And you can find
1:24:05
them at www dot b E a M dot community Forward slash B like Baby
1:24:14
V, like Victory Tears and tim In Like Nancy. You have the Black
1:24:18
Girls Smile dot Org, Forward slash Resources, you have the Steve Fund,
1:24:26
you have Therapy for Black Girls. You have African American mental health. We
1:24:30
need to fight to have more funds allocated to these programs. That way we
1:24:40
could get more resources, excuse me, that way we will hopefully we can
1:24:49
have less of these fatalities and more healing, more resolutions. That's all I
1:25:00
want. That's where we go from here. But the only way that that's
1:25:04
going to happen is we as a community. We have to pull together and
1:25:09
we have to fight for things like this. So whatever I have to do,
1:25:16
I'm tintos down in the game. I'm here for it. I'm ready
1:25:20
for it. And that's where we go from here. We gotta vote for
1:25:31
these programs. We gotta fight mental health is I'm telling you mental illnesses that
1:25:41
are all time high right now, and we're seeing more and more people die
1:25:47
for being mentally ill. And I don't know why, HTA, I just
1:26:05
gotta take a deep breath on that because again, y'all, I'm thinking all
1:26:13
these cases that I've talked about, I'm so sorry we're rolling into the final
1:26:19
thoughts. I said back, and I look at these cases that I've covered,
1:26:26
these stories that I presented to you, where people that are suffering from
1:26:31
mental illness or in mental distress are dying, and we're seeing this far too
1:26:43
often. These police officers. You say that they have extensive training, extensive
1:27:06
training to kill. Yeah, we saw in that little snippet of a video
1:27:14
he was called for all of a brief moment. But again, you still
1:27:21
had ample time to call for someone to come and assist that was properly equipped
1:27:30
and trained for mental health, but you chose not to the time that you
1:27:41
were standing out there speaking with a wife. Even let's even go back as
1:27:46
far as when the wife walked into the police station in that moment, somebody
1:27:55
could have called the mental health crisis response team. Someone could have done that
1:28:02
and then let them come out and assess the situation and determine do we need
1:28:10
a police officer out here. We gotta do better as a people, we
1:28:20
gotta do better as a community, because mental health does matter. It does.
1:28:31
Oh again, to the families of Miss Melissa Perez and to car Smith
1:28:39
again, my thoughts and prayers are with you. I pray justice is served
1:28:46
in the death of your loved one. I pray that you get the justice
1:28:51
that you so desperately seek and deserve because this should have not either one of
1:28:58
these situations should not have resulted in death. Miss Melissa should still be here
1:29:04
with her family, her daughter. Mister Smith should still be here with his
1:29:09
wife, his children, his brother, his mother. They should still definitely
1:29:14
be here. Hugs and love to y'all. Ooh, I made it through
1:29:26
an episode, y'all, and I did not get emotional. I had to
1:29:29
take a deep breath. I really truly had to, because it was a
1:29:30
couple of times that I was getting choked up when I saw these videos because
1:29:35
it's it's sad and it's sickening that we're seeing that happened far too often,
1:29:45
far too often, and these police officers are not being held accountable, and
1:29:54
it's always blacks and brown unfortunately, but it's the truth. But yeah,
1:30:08
another great episode in the bag, y'all. Gosh, y'all know upcoming episodes
1:30:17
for Black Girl Interrupted soul because Tuesday is the fourth of July. Y'all know
1:30:24
I do not celebrate that holiday, so um, I'm gonna take that day
1:30:30
off and oh hang out with my kids that day. I'm off work,
1:30:34
so I'm just gonna kick back and relax. But Black Girl Interrupted will return
1:30:40
on July the sixth, which is Thursday, and if nothing comes up,
1:30:45
we are gonna be discussing health, the health of black women, and then
1:30:48
part two will be the health of black men. So Black Girl Interrupted will
1:30:53
return next Thursday, July the sixth, eight thirty pm Central Time, nine
1:31:00
thirty pm Eastern Time. You can always catch the replays on YouTube. If
1:31:05
you missed the episode, you could always go back and catch the replays on
1:31:10
YouTube. If you're not a visual person, you could catch Black Girl Interrupted
1:31:15
on all the streaming platforms again. I am actually now streaming to Africa,
1:31:20
y'all. I've been streaming in India now for a little over a year.
1:31:28
I am streaming in Ireland and I believe I forgot where else I'm streaming,
1:31:33
but I am streaming out of the country now, and I believe the last
1:31:38
time I check, I was ranked number one twenty six. I believe I'll
1:31:45
have to go in double check and I'll get the stats to y'all on that.
1:31:47
But I owe that all to y'all for y'all consistently showing up and loving
1:31:54
on me and supporting me and encouraging me to be to stay consistent and stay
1:32:00
on the path with my podcast. So I owe that ranking up to y'all.
1:32:04
Um, I'm hoping to move further up. Well, let me say
1:32:08
this, let me speak this into an existence. I'm gonna move up.
1:32:12
Um. But again, I excuse me. I owe it all to um,
1:32:16
the people that tune in, that hang out with me every Tuesday,
1:32:19
every Thursday. UM, I appreciate y'all. You know, I'm absolutely and
1:32:24
greatly humbled UM that y'all pull up and show me some love, whether it's
1:32:30
UM comment, whether it's you sharing the polls I mean, sharing the video.
1:32:35
I'm absolutely humbled by that. I appreciate that. UM. Again,
1:32:42
support is always free. UM. Anything I do, I do from the
1:32:46
kindness of my heart. Uh. But yeah, but that is the upcoming
1:32:53
episodes for a Black Girl Interrupted Again. Black Girl Interrupted will not I will
1:32:58
not be here on July the fourth, but I will return July the sixth
1:33:02
at eight thirty pm Central Time nine thirty pm Eastern Time. Again, I
1:33:11
will be speaking about health, women's health and men's health, and why it's
1:33:15
imperative for us to go to the doctor and what do we need to do
1:33:18
to start taking care of ourselves to be in better shape, better health.
1:33:25
We'll address that again next Thursday. Black Girl Interrupted will return July the sixth,
1:33:30
oh July the fourth, I will not be live. I'm gonna use
1:33:33
that utilize their data, chill out and relax and kick my feet up and
1:33:39
maybe watch a little TV, maybe do some of my children. Who knows.
1:33:43
But again, I appreciate y'all showing up for me every week. Again,
1:33:46
I appreciate the interactions. I appreciate the people that share the videos.
1:33:54
I'm sorry the episodes. I appreciate that it does not go unnoticed. Again,
1:33:58
I'm absolutely humbold um and couldn't ask for anything else. Again. Uh,
1:34:06
my magazine article, my interview for the Women Who Podcasts article will be
1:34:12
out next month. Um and yes the July issue. Um Again, I
1:34:18
have another interview with a podcast that is coming up in August I and that
1:34:23
will actually be live. I will actually um post a link once I get
1:34:28
the link in you guys cartoon in live. Come show your girl some love,
1:34:30
Come show me some support. UM that's all I ask, just you
1:34:33
know, tell me if I'm doing a great job, what can I do
1:34:36
to improve? What can I do UM better? I'm always open for ideas,
1:34:43
topics, conversations. Y'all know why I don't shy away from any any
1:34:48
conversations at all. Um. Again, here is the website. It is
1:34:56
w www dot black Girl Interrupted podcast dot com. You could always check the
1:35:03
website for updates for any upcoming events, or you could even post on there
1:35:10
if there's the idea, if there's a topic you want me to discuss,
1:35:13
if there's a conversation you want to be a part of, even if you
1:35:15
just want to be a guest on the show. Uh, you can always
1:35:19
go to the website, put in the inquiry box and it will come directly
1:35:24
to my email. Or if you want to just email me directly. The
1:35:29
email is right here and in the bottom corner it is black Girl Interrupted one
1:35:34
at gmail dot com. UH, let me know what your ideas are.
1:35:39
If you know, is there a topic you want me to address, is
1:35:42
there a conversation you want to did you want me to bring to the forefront?
1:35:46
Um, I do want to say, I will be doing a part
1:35:50
two on the murder of A. G. K Owens that was the young
1:35:57
the mother in Florida that was shot by her white neighbor. Um. I
1:36:01
will do a follow up on that one week after next. I'll definitely keep
1:36:09
you guys posted on that, and then I also need to check in because
1:36:14
I know them. I believe there's been some developments in the murder of Tyree
1:36:19
Nichols, that was the young man that was beat by the five Memphis police
1:36:25
officers. I believe there's been some updates, so I definitely want to bring
1:36:29
that to y'all. Um, So I think that's what it'll be. I
1:36:32
think I'll just do one episode where I'm just recapping and just bringing y'all any
1:36:38
updates and keeping y'all in the loop of what's been going on with a lot
1:36:41
of a lot of the stories that I have brought to you with regards to
1:36:45
these police brutality cases. Um. But again, Happy Thursday. I hope
1:36:54
ever each and every one of y'all has a beautiful weekend. Um, stay
1:36:58
safe. Again. I don't celebrate the fourth of July, so whatever you
1:37:02
do, please don't tag me or post anything on my page with regards to
1:37:06
the fourth July because I do not celebrate that holiday. Um what else?
1:37:12
What else? What else? What else do I want to say? I
1:37:15
am gonna start getting back active on TikTok and you can follow me under the
1:37:20
same name black Girl Interrupted again. I'm on Instagram, I'm on Twitter.
1:37:27
I show your girl from Love. Come show your girls from Love. Like
1:37:30
I said, share this, share this episode or any other episodes that your
1:37:33
field may be imperatives to someone. Share it. That's all I ask.
1:37:39
But on that note, I love you guys again. I will see y'all
1:37:45
next Thursday. So a week from today, I will be Black Girl Interrupted.
1:37:47
Will be back on July the sixth. Again, July fourth, I
1:37:51
will not be going live. I will not be doing a show on that
1:37:55
day. That's gonna be my day where I relax. So I mentally prepare
1:37:58
to go to work that Wednesday. But yeah, but I will see y'all
1:38:02
next Thursday again. Happy Thursday again. I hope everyone has a beautiful weekend.
1:38:08
Stay safe, you guys. Anyone that is celebrating the fourth y'all be
1:38:11
careful out there in the streets. It's crazy. Anyone in New Orleans for
1:38:15
the Essence Fest. Y'all have fun, be safe, be careful, and
1:38:20
I love you. And that's it. But again, thank y'all for tuning
1:38:27
in to another episode of Black Girl Interrupted you guys again, I'm absolutely humbles.
1:38:31
I can't say it enough, but I appreciate your loving support and again
1:38:35
I will see y'all next week. Have a good weekend. Bye,