JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 41-year-old man has died after being shot by police following a confrontation Saturday morning on Grunthal Street.
Bobby Brown died in hospital after being shot and then shot by an officer.
the The incident occurred around 4:30 am when the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office received calls about a man who appeared to be high on drugs. and he was knocking on doors armed with knives.
Court documents show that Brown had been charged with resisting officers, domestic battery and past possession of marijuana.
Officers said Brown arrived at a relative’s home and when he entered, he threatened to harm himself and others in the home. They also said he allegedly hid drugs and other paraphernalia in the house and then locked himself in the bathroom.
Officers got the family out of the house safely and then spent 45 minutes negotiating with Brown.
Ad
Investigators said the time between the shot and the Taser was fairly close, so they are continuing to investigate and review body camera footage.
News4JAX spoke to JSO about their de-escalation practices in situations like this.
They said all officers are trained to deal with an armed person and to decide when force is necessary, which is difficult to do when dealing with an armed person.
The Chief of Investigations mentioned how in the early hours of the weekend none of the teams of co-responsible parties were on duty.
Co-response teams are comprised of mental health professionals funded by LSF Health Systems, whom we contacted to discuss their programming and whether it would have affected the outcome of this situation.
Why were none of the mental health professionals available on weekends?
“I’m not sure why that happened. But what I can say is that when joint response teams are called, it’s usually for the primary reason of deescalating a mental health situation,” said Dr. Christine Cauffield, chief operating officer of LSF Health Systems. “If there is security involved, if there is any dangerous situation involving weapons, the joint response teams are generally not called in because the officers consider it to be a security issue, a dangerous issue, weapons are present. Therefore, they do not bring the doctor with them for their safety, as well as for the safety of others. So I’m not sure a team of co-responders would have been called in this particular situation.”
Ad
Cauffield said having a team of co-managers available 24/7 for a mental health crisis is ideal.
“It is not unusual for a person who is addicted to drugs of any kind to also have a co-occurring mental health problem,” Cauffield said.
How likely is a mental health correspondent to be successful in a situation where they have a person of interest or suspect who is under the influence of drugs?
“It would depend on JSO’s determination of the security risk. If the JSO officer felt that there were no security concerns and no weapons were present, he can determine that. Indeed, a co-response team would be appropriate for the call. So it just depends, every situation is different. They look for lethality risk. They look at the environment in general, who is at risk of safety hazards,” Cauffield said.
JSO said early in the investigation that it appeared Brown was emerging in their direction with the weapon, which officers want to give 25 feet to give them reaction time.
Copyright 2022 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.
.
