Breanna Reeves
Within a month, deputies from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department have killed two teenage boys who were both experiencing mental health crises during the incidents.
On April 2, 17-year-old Aaron James was shot and killed by sheriff’s deputies after he escaped the hospital where he was being treated after cutting himself. James was to be transferred to a mental health facility.
James was found at a house in Victorville where his sisters live in foster care. A statement from the department reported that James locked himself in a bathroom and later produced a knife, threatening to hurt himself. Body camera footage was released capturing the fatal incident.
In a press conference held on April 4, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus reported that the department had responded to several incidents involving James at his home in Hesperia, and recognized James’s history of mental illness.
On March 9, 15-year-old Ryan Gainer, who was autistic, was fatally shot in Apple Valley after officers responded to a 911 call from a family member who reported that the teen broke a window and was “assaulting” family members. According to a statement released by officers, Gainer was holding a “five-foot-long garden tool, with a sharp bladed end.”
In a press release following the shooting of Gainer, Sheriff Dicus reported that both deputies fired their weapons. On March 26 the department released the names of the deputies involved: Deputy Wyatt Eisenbrey and Deputy Brandon Clancy.
Prior to this incident, Sheriff Dicus said that deputies had responded to the house multiple times in the past. Previously, Gainer had been taken to a mental health facility.
The death of Gainer has reignited questions about office-involved shootings and their lack of training when it comes to dealing with people who are experiencing mental health crises.
Crisis intervention training
In an interview with Black Voice News, the Gainer family’s attorney, DeWitt Lacy, explained that officers are trained to de-escalate, but the deputies involved acted in a confrontational manner.
“If they approach a circumstance like Ryan, with some type of threat of violence,” Lacy said in the interview. “It could cause a violent or aggressive reaction, which is what happened, right?”
In the last ten years, there have been 56 police shootings involving the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. Thirteen of the victims were experiencing a mental health crisis.
In an effort to reduce police involvement during a mental health crisis situation, California’s Medi-Cal program received federal approval to add community-based mobile crisis intervention services as a Medi-Cal benefit in 2023.
The services are available seven days a week, 24 hours a day, to people experiencing a psychiatric emergency or who need crisis intervention. While these crisis teams work independent of the police, most people are unaware of these services and call 911.
Under San Bernardino County’s Department of Behavioral Health there are mobile crisis response teams that are available for people of all ages who experience mental health emergencies or need crisis intervention.
While crisis intervention training is offered to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, there is no mention of a crisis team that works in partnership with clinical therapists.
In addition to training, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department launched a program called “Safe Return” which is a voluntary program that allows the public to share photos and important information about a loved one with disabilities with law enforcement. This program is “designed to assist law enforcement agencies during contacts with members of the community who have disabilities such as, but not limited to, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Dementia, Alzheimer’s…”
It is unclear if Gainer or James were enrolled in the program.
There are several regions who have developed crisis teams who partner with law enforcement agencies to address emergency calls that involve someone who is experiencing a mental health crisis and may be armed.
In Riverside County, among the four types of crisis teams, one is the Community Behavioral Health Assessment Team (CBAT). The CBAT team includes one trained police officer and one Riverside County clinical therapist who respond to calls for law enforcement service involving mental health issues in the community. There are 17 teams that operate throughout the county in partnership with the Riverside Sheriff’s Department and local police jurisdictions.
“Those teams respond to 911 calls that appear to have more of a behavioral health need than a law enforcement need,” said Kristin Miller, the Crisis Support System of Care Administrator for Riverside University Health Systems Behavioral Health.
“And their goal is to try to help folks stay safe in the community, prevent any possibility of arrest, if at all possible, and provide that immediate crisis intervention.”
Across Southern California several cities have launched community crisis response teams made up of behavioral therapists who respond to mental health crises that may not require law enforcement.
According to a statement released by the National Health Law Program following the death of Gainer, “Unfortunately, Black disabled people are killed by police at higher rates due to the intersection of both racism and ableism that exists within the criminal justice system, in addition to police officers being ill-equipped to respond to mental health crises.”
While not all cities have community crisis teams that partner with law enforcement, under Senate Bill 11 and Senate Bill 29 police officers are required to complete behavioral health training set at a minimum standard. Under SB 29, police officers in supervisory roles who conduct field training are also required to complete several hours of behavioral health training on how to interact with persons with mental illness.
If you or someone you love are in need of support or are experiencing a mental health crisis in Riverside County, call 951-686-HELP. For those in San Bernardino County seeking support from the mobile crisis team, call (800) 398-0018 or text (909) 420-0560.