Less than 10 seconds after officers opened the door, police shot Yong Yang in his parents’ Koreatown home while he was holding a knife during a bipolar episode.

Parents in Los Angeles’ Koreatown called for mental health help in the middle of their son’s bipolar episode this month. Clinical personnel showed up — and so did police shortly after.

Police fatally shot Yong Yang, 40, who had a knife in his hand, less than 10 seconds after officers opened the door to his parents’ apartment where he had locked himself in, newly released bodycam video shows.

Now the parents of Yang, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder around 15 years ago, have told NBC News exclusively that they are disputing part of the account captured on bodycam, in which police recount a clinician’s saying Yang was violent before the shooting on May 2.

  • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    5 months ago

    You’re responding to someone asking why they don’t use their tasers. They have a toolkit. They choose to only use the hammer from it.

    • dustyData@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      5 months ago

      The typical service worker has more training time before doing their job than a cop gets before getting a gun and a badge. That’s the other side of the coin.