Fil-Am family in LA seeks justice for man who was reportedly shot by police while having a mental episode
The family of a 27-year-old Filipino-American who was reportedly shot multiple times by the police in Los Angeles, California is now seeking justice. over the incident.
The police reportedly shot Miguel delos Santos after they were called in to help the latter who was then having a mental episode in their house.
According to the family lawyer Claire Espina, Delos Santos was taken to a nearby hospital where he was confined in the intensive care unit for almost a week after undergoing several injuries.
Espina said delos Santos “remains in the hospital with serious injuries to several vital organs, with full recovery uncertain.”
Delos Santos, who has a daughter, has been facing mental health issues and has been taking medication, but the family says the COVID-19 took its toll on him due to increased isolation and loss of livelihood.
The incident reportedly happened April 23 when delos Santos’s fiancé Cielo Esquivel called 911 after discovering the former “in a fetal position, shaking violently, incoherently mumbling, and unresponsive to her pleas.” Paramedics and police responded and took delos Santos to a nearby medical center without incident.
Several hours later at 4pm on the same day, delos Santos reportedly showed up unannounced at their house dazed and agitated. He kept telling his fiancée that people were trying to hurt him. Esquivel again called 911 and delos Santos was taken away by an ambulance.
The issue of mental health is something that needs to be addressed especially when law-enforcement comes for an intervention.
In less than an hour, delos Santos again showed up at the house “in a state of greater agitation,” according to Espina.
But a two-hour standoff ensued when paramedics and police responded as delos Santos refused to leave the house.
By 8 pm, delos Santos, who was reportedly unarmed, exited the house by a side door where he was then confronted by the police and shot, according to Esquivel, five or six times. In a report from Balitang America, it was said that police shot delos Santos “when stun rounds and tasers didn’t work.”
“Family is speaking out to the media into the community because the issue of mental health is something that needs to be addressed especially when law-enforcement comes for an intervention. More often than not it results in death or great bodily harm to the person supposed to be assistant,” said Espina.
Espina said “this is another tragic case of gross disproportionate use of lethal force by law enforcement against people of color, and ineptitude in dealing with those laboring under mental conditions.”
The police have not issued any statement on the incident thus far, except for an incident report.
Espina said her team is now gathering more information for the case, which includes body camera footage from the officers involved.
The family is now setting up a GoFundMe account to cover the medical needs of Delos Santos, whose parents hail from Tarlac.