(July 28, 2015) Paul Castaway – a 35-year-old, Native American man diagnosed with schizophrenia – was shot and killed in an altercation with Colorado law enforcement earlier this month (“Paul Castaway's family disputes Denver police account of shooting,” Denver Post, July 14).
Denver Police Chief Robert White reported at the scene that one of his officers – whose name remains anonymous – shot Castaway four times in the torso after he had gotten “dangerously close” with a knife. Castaway was rushed to the hospital and died shortly upon arrival.
But surveillance video from the mobile home park where Castaway lived shows a different version of events, say witnesses and family members who are disputing police reports of Castaway’s death.
"I called the police for help, not to kill my son," said Castaway’s mother, who told media her son was experiencing a psychotic episode that evening. "They shot him while the knife was still to his own throat.”
"There was a different way to go about this," said other members of Castaway’s family. "It didn't have to end in his death."
Castaway was a Native American from the Lakota Sioux tribe. July is National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month and Castaway’s death is one more example of how minorities disproportionately interact with the criminal justice system, often with tragic results
This is also a reminder that police need better training on how to interact with a suspect in psychiatric crisis.
Read the Treatment Advocacy Center’s report “Justifiable Homicides by Law Enforcement Officers: What is the Role of Mental Illness?” to learn more.
Additionally, read our study on mental health diversion practices, which found that less than half of the United States population lives in jurisdictions where police are trained to handle people in a psychiatric crisis.
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