On January 1, 2023, Mischa Fay was tased by a police officer and shot to death by another officer. Fay had begun to act out as early as 2022, as his mental health declined. Police were called to his home a plethora of times to help deal with his behavior and mental health issues. On New Year’s Day, he was armed with a knife, which forced his mother to call the police. That is when Officer Nathan Ayotte, who was aware of the mental health issues, pulled out the Taser and tased 17-year-old Fay. He was shot in the chest by Sgt. Douglas Wall after being tased.
This incident is controversial because a Taser is supposed to incapacitate a person in a safe manner, so it is likely that the officers did not mean to initially kill Fay. However, the Taser had little effect on him and Fay was shot by Wall. Also, when a Taser is used on the chest of a person, it can severely affect the heart. Exposure to electricity can cause ventricular fibrillation, better known as the most serious type of irregular heartbeat. A person who has possession of a Taser, especially someone who is part of the criminal justice system, should know the circumstances of how and when to use one. While Fay was unaffected by the Taser and died from a gunshot, it was still irresponsible considering the circumstances.
This is not the first scenario where people with mental health issues have been treated unfairly.
“In the eight times police have shot and killed someone in New Hampshire since the analysis was published, five of those individuals had a history of mental illness, a rate of 62.5 percent,” according to The Keene Sentinel.
The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training for officers is a good change that has been recently implemented, as well as a national mental health help hotline. CIT is associated with an officer’s better understanding and attitude when coming into contact with someone with a mental illness. The national mental health help hotline is available 24/7 for anybody who is struggling with a crisis of any sort, ranging from suicide, emotional distress, anxiety, etc. Although these measures are in place, a mental health incident review board has gained little attention.
Some other things that could be done to prevent the killing of people with mental health issues are restoring the mental health system so that anyone with severe mental health issues is not left to suffer until they are in need of response from law enforcement, funding reliable federal tracking of all happenings involving the use of lethal force by law enforcement and assuring that mental illness in police violence is recognized and reported in government data collection.
Mental health patients are not treated fairly within the criminal justice system. When convicted of a crime, they are treated no differently from other criminals. They lack the resources they need such as medical attention, medications, therapy sessions, etc. Many of these individuals suffer from schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, depression, and other mental illnesses which make staying incarcerated without the necessities to keep them sane and handle their behavior dangerous.
A lot of work needs to be done when it comes to law enforcement and how they handle mentally ill citizens. The criminal justice system needs to look at how to train their officers not to kill the people they know are fighting a battle with their illness, and find an alternative on how to help them out.
Reilly Sanborn can be contacted
at rsanborn@kscequinox.com
