Lawyers and local pol call for faster police reform to stop deaths of mentally ill

August 10, 2017 By Paul Frangipane Brooklyn Daily Eagle

City Councilmember Jumaane Williams, left, speaks outside of the Brooklyn DA’s Office with the Juene family’s lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, right. Eagle photos by Paul Frangipane

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The family of a mentally ill East Flatbush man who was gunned down by police last month stood alongside lawyers and a member of City Council on Thursday and demanded NYPD speed up its reform efforts in dealing with mentally ill persons.

Dwayne Jeune, 32, was a diagnosed schizophrenic and was off his medication on July 31 when his mother called 911 for his erratic behavior. Moments after police arrived at their apartment, Jeune had been killed.

“It is clear to me as of right now, the city does not have a handle on how to handle an emotionally disturbed person,” City Councilmember Jumaane Williams said at a press conference outside the Brooklyn DA’s Office.

Jeune’s family met with Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez on Thursday to discuss the investigation of Jeune’s death and the possibility of punting the case to the attorney general.

“The NYPD has an obligation to the citizens of this city to take action in terms of the matter in which it trains police,” the family’s lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein said.

Above all, Rubenstein called for more police training to deal with emotionally disturbed persons.

Out of nearly 36,000 NYPD officers, 5,653 have been trained in crisis intervention as of last week, according to Police Commissioner James O’Neill. O’Neill estimated the training will be done by the end of 2018 for the entire force.

Williams also called for faster implementation of police body cameras, which launched this April, about four years after a federal judge ordered them upon finding NYPD’s stop-and-frisk tactics were targeting minorities.

When Jeune’s mother called 911, she said her son was acting out and smashed a TV, but was not violent. The police came before Emergency Service Units and saw Jeune with a serrated knife, running out of a back bedroom of his 1370 New York Ave. East Flatbush apartment, police said.

Officer Adam Gierlachowski fired a Taser at Jeune, but Jeune ran at him and tackled him to the ground, according to the police.

As Jeune held the knife over Gierlachowski, Miguel Gonzalez fired five fatal shots at Jeune.

Of the four officers who responded, Gonzalez was the only one not appropriately trained.

Gonzalez also shot and wounded another mentally ill knife wielder in East Flatbush in October 2016, DNAinfo.com reported.

“This is not the first time in this city when a call has been made for help to 911 for an emotionally disturbed person and that person ends up dead,” Rubenstein said.

On Oct. 19, 2016, 66-year-old Deborah Danner, another diagnosed schizophrenic, was shot dead by a police officer without crisis intervention training, which sparked faster training, according to O’Neill.

Rubenstein and Williams suggested that the case be handled by the Attorney General’s Office to avoid the “natural nature” of the relationship between the DA and NYPD.

But the DA’s Office assured the investigation will be just.

“We are committed to conducting a fair, thorough and impartial inquiry into this matter,” said a spokeswoman for the Brooklyn DA’s Office.

“We know the truth will be established,” Jeune’s father, Vibert Juene said. “We are suffering right now emotionally but we are people who believe in God and we know that God is going to help us.”