Public Advocate Jumaane Williams slammed city and state officials for “chasing ambulances” instead of working towards more lasting mental health solutions, and in letters to authorities requested they employ an unused review process to examine the fatal shooting by cops of a 61-year-old mentally ill Queens man.
Williams, in letters to both the city and state and obtained by the Daily News, asked the state to convene a “Critical Incident Review Panel” to examine the fatal encounter with the man in a mental health crisis and find out where the system failed.
“No one is trying to figure out where the gap is in the service,” Williams told The News in an interview. “These panels could review that, identify where the gap in service is for this individual and make sure we’re closing that gap.”
Both the mayor and governor have pushed for expanding the ability to involuntarily bring people who appear to be unable to meet their basic needs to hospitals. As state budget negotiations stretch late, the governor’s insistence on this point has become a major sticking point.
A number of violent incidents involving those with serious mental illness have added fuel to the debate over how to tackle the city’s mental health problem.
Williams said in the letters, sent Thursday evening, that the police shooting of the mentally ill Queens man highlights the need for more holistic solutions, and said that this formal review process should be done to see if any service gaps contributed to “this tragic loss of life.”
Cops responded early Monday morning to numerous 911 calls describing a 61-year-old man armed with a large knife and acting erratically on the streets of Astoria. Officers fired their tasers at the man and yelled at him to drop his weapon as he moved towards them, but they missed, cop said. They then pulled out firearms and shot, killing him.
The man had a history of mental illness, and cops had twice before responded to incidents in which he was in distress, police said.
“Unfortunately, the mayor and governor are the ones who are doing the ambulance chasing. We’re trying to push them to do the work, not the lazy leadership,” Williams said.
Dr. Ann Marie Sullivan, the commissioner of the state Office of Mental Health, testified at a February hearing that while the formal process hadn’t been done, “every time there’s an incident, there’s a tremendous amount of review involved.”
Avi Small, a spokesperson for the governor, referred to the office, and a spokesperson for the office didn’t immediately issue a response.
The panels, which would be made up of state and local city officials, plus representatives from other agencies, can be brought together either by the state’s mental health office or at the request of a local municipality.
