15 yo Asperger Teen Shot Dead by Police

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I am definitely signing that petition. It seems that he was experiencing the metaphorical "red mist" I get a similar thing when I'm angry, although admittedly, when I feel it building I make sure I don't have a weapon to hand. Anyway, what kind of idiot aims for the head when there are plenty of non-lethal targets that would render the attack at least difficult.

...Damn you Hollywood.

I don't think it was right for the cops to have used lethal force, but I would not let the family off the hook. I don't know of any legitimate "treatment plan" that involves calling the cops every time there is a disciplinary problem with your kid. The cops aren't babysitters nor are they teachers or therapists. The parents could not deal with their son so rather than get him the help he needed, or teach themselves how to deal with him, they relied on police intervention. This happened repeatedly; it wasn't just an isolated instance. When you keep calling in the cops, you are playing with fire. The police are accustomed to dealing with persons having criminal intent, not autistic kids having meltdowns, and they react like police not like therapists. Even if the police had been able to restrain the boy and take the knife from him, they would have released him back to his parents and sooner or later another incident would have occurred with the same same potential for a dangerous outcome. Sorry, but I think those parents were negligent in letting this pattern develop.

What would EVER possess parents to get the POLICE involved in their child's "behavioral plan" TO BEGIN WITH??????????

It was a simple matter of a kid on the Spectrum acting on his anal-retentive (I mean that in the clinical sense only) tendencies while trying to get at the computer that had been removed from him. Autism DOES that. What kind of "parents" do those people think they are, getting LAW ENFORCEMENT involved in the first place?!

How would any of YOU feel if the cops were called when you were a teenager and all you were doing was acting on the impulses you were born with, that really were NOT under your own control?!

Police do NOT exist to act like some sort of instant "behavior killer." That isn't even their purpose. Their purpose is to come out and try make sure no laws are being broken. Sorry, but an Autistic Teen having a MELT DOWN is NOT breaking the law: it's an Autistic Teen BEING an Autistic Teen.

Sheesh!

I would have thought that a trained police officer should be able to restrain a 15 year old with a butter knife without a gun or taser or anything. I reckon I could do it, why can't they? This all smells a bit wrong.

Why would you kill someone, especially if the wound was just an abrasion, and it could be healed? Nobody deserves to die, to end their life abruptly. Not one police should have raised there hand. Those police deserve death sentence.
I'm crying very much now. That poor kid, never understood by his family, or anyone.
RIP Stephon Watts. May your soul be in a happier place, I hope.

That's because you've been watching way too many hollywood movies.

or the cop was an utter idiot with cowardly tendencies, i have seen cops call for backup to deal with cats and squirrels and cops are actively selected to have a limited iq in the first place.

Only an idiot would think a guy trying to stab you isn't dangerous.

Really? It is one thing to say cops have a limited iq in the first place (which I would probably still have an issue with), but you said actively selected, it is hard for me to believe that

they are, at least semi actively chosen not to have an iq above a certain level, they say its to prevent boredom with a subsequent loss of resources due to expensive training,

heres an article that explains where why and how this was done, many blogs later revealed it happens in other states and cities as well.

link here,

I guess, just seems ridiculous. You said he could have been an utter idiot. Going by that article the mean score is 21-22, which is about 104 IQ, lowest to pass is a 20. So if we are going by this test for the officer then either- the test can't be trusted,Similar to the first iq tests mean nothing, common sense matters more than "smarts".

yes but anyone that cannot disarm a 15 year old with a butter knife after extensive training simply isnt fit for a police officer, especially when the response is a headshot. none of that is common sense.
did he have any less than lethal measures? if so why werent they drawn instead of a lethal weapon when responding to what is basically a child having a tantrum?

how would you look on someone that punched a child with full force despite the child being violent?

Like I said, too much Hollywood and video games.

It's difficult to judge the situation with the immense lack of background information into the personal history of the autistic teen and the family, but this incident raises questions for me whether this minor should have been in the care of his parents the very way he was.

With a minor (a son or daughter or a student) with a known psychiatric "illness" or disorder who is also known to have had violent outbursts before, the route to go outside of immediate life-threatening situations - if he or she absolutely needs to "go away" (which is a last and awful option with mighty consequences, certainly not the first) - is involving a psychiatric ambulance (that can involve the police but not on their own) and keeping yourself, a guardian or at least one other adult who knows the minor as well as the medical record and relevant medical information for the medical officers and police officers at hand to ensure their safety and the safety of the child throughout the measures taken to have him or her admitted.

Simply calling the police and inviting strangers into your house who are not trained in this kind of medical emergency is a sure way around the world to ask for the situation to escalate further for everyone involved, to possibly risk physical harm for everyone involved or cause psychological damage to the kid (or adult).

Anyway, the stories make much of it sound so very... odd.

??

please instead of simply coming with senseless drive by comments elaborate,

why is it too much to demand a less than lethal situation when law enforcement hinges around that concept??
especially when they most places have the tools?

if he was close enough to be dangerous with a knife he was close enough to be tasered and that would have been warranted here, an implicitly fatal wound to the head is not.