The killing of an autistic teen highlights potential police violence that people with disabilities face
When police opened fire on Victor Perez, the autistic, nonverbal 17-year-old with cerebral palsy was experiencing a mental health crisis.
When police opened fire on Victor Perez, the autistic, nonverbal 17-year-old with cerebral palsy was experiencing a mental health crisis. Advocates say his death reflects a potential for violence that people with disabilities, in particular, can experience when encountering police.
Perez’s death is part of a much larger pattern, explained Zoe Gross, director of advocacy for the Washington, D.C.-based Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a group run by and for people with autism. Police with little awareness of autism are sometimes too quick to act.
Pocatello, Idaho, officers shot Perez nine times within seconds of arriving at his home, according to the law firm representing Perez’s family. The Latino teenager was on the other side of a fence when officers repeatedly told him to drop the knife as he was moving toward them. He was in the midst of a mental health crisis, his aunt Ana Vazquez told NBC News. She added that while he was holding a knife, the family did not see him as a threat. He died last week, several days after being shot.
Victor Perez in a hospital bed in Pocatello, Idaho.Ana Vasquez via APIt is not clear what, if anything, went wrong in Perez’s case and if circumstances could have turned out differently had the officers received more training. But advocates said the situation highlights a broader lack of understanding when police encounter people with disabilities or those experiencing a mental health crisis.
There is no federal or nationwide system collecting data on how often people with disabilities are injured or killed by police, but there have been several cases during recent years. Biases against Black and Latino people can also play a role in the way police react, Gross said.
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