A California mother whose son was shot and killed by police in 2019 during a mental health crisis has partnered with local officials to create a mobile task force to help those struggling with mental illness.
Taun Hall’s son, Miles, began showing signs of possible mental illness during his teens. He would later be diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, and as his symptoms progressed, Hall became concerned for Miles’s safety.
The fears were not unfounded: People with serious mental illness who go untreated are 16 times more likely to be killed by police, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit organization based in Arlington, Virginia. Hall was also concerned about Miles as a black man, which made him three times more likely than white people to be killed by police, according to a study by researchers at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
Hall contacted police in her neighborhood of Walnut Creek, a wealthy suburb a few miles from San Francisco, to alert them to her son’s mental health issues. She also worked with his local mental health officer to open up a channel of communication.
Miles Hall with his mother Taun Hall in this undated family photo.
Courtesy of Salon Tuan
“I was trying to be preemptive,” Hall said. “He was trying to fix things before there was a problem.”
Miles’ condition worsened in 2019; he began to experience delusions and sometimes referred to himself as “Jesus”. But he was 23 years old, he was legally an adult, and Hall couldn’t force him to seek help.
“You see your son going down a kind of mental health spiral… you can see the deterioration, but you can’t do anything to help him.”
When Hall saw Miles’ symptoms worsen, he reached out to the mental health officer he had been working with to help Miles. Hall left a message for him and called the local police department’s non-emergency line, trying to alert them to Miles’s condition in case his son ran into police. “I was like, ‘Okay, if they know him, they’re going to respond with care and compassion.'”
The next day, Miles was gardening with his grandmother. A neighbor lent Miles a garden tool, a long metal bar that looked like a crowbar. Miles began walking with the staff, calling it his “god staff”. He was walking around, claiming to be Jesus, when he used the metal bar to smash through a sliding glass door at the family’s home, Hall said.
Miles entered the house and asked Hall and her husband to leave. They did, in an effort to defuse the situation, and Hall called 911. Hall told the 911 operator that Miles had a metal bar.
About 10 minutes later, a neighbor called to tell Hall that Miles had been shot. According to police reports, officers responded to multiple calls that afternoon, not just Hall’s call.
Miles had been banging on a neighbor’s door and several residents called the police. Police footage shows officers calling Miles by his name, yelling at him to “stop” as he walked toward them, holding the metal bar. Despite his orders, Miles kept moving forward. Officers then fired a bean bag round, intending to detain a suspect but not causing permanent damage. When that didn’t stop Miles, the officers shot him multiple times with their pistols, killing him.
“The worst damn moment of, you know, our lives was right then, right there.”
An internal investigation cleared the officers of wrongdoing.
In the years since her son’s death, Hall has worked with Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan to try to prevent other families from experiencing the same tragedy. Hall realized that what would have been helpful was having someone to call who wasn’t the police. “We needed a different number to call. We needed a different answer.”
The replacement of the police with mobile response units to deal with low-level calls, such as those related to mental health, is happening in many cities in the country. Oakland, California, began testing a pilot program in April. The new task force, called MACRO (Mobile Assistance Community Responders of Oakland), was created to provide a first responder option independent of law enforcement.
Oakland residents can access the task force by calling 911 and being connected to a special MACRO dispatch center. The workgroup’s interactions with the public come from what they call “in view” calls. These are given when the team sees someone who may need help and offers resources and basic medical care.
“If someone is in need and you can lay eyes on them, you can stop and help them,” program manager Elliott Jones said. “And even if you just give them a bottle of water and sit them up straight, that’s maybe more compassion they’ve gotten for God knows how long.”
A ‘Justice for Miles Hall’ rally in Walnut Creek.
Courtesy of Salon Tuan
Each MACRO team has an EMT, a crisis intervention specialist, and a minivan stocked with supplies. The team doesn’t just address low-level mental health issues. It also helps with homelessness, public intoxication, and behavioral issues, among others.
Hall worked with Bauer-Kahan on a bill to expand funding for mental health services in California, and Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill in late September, laying out an 8-year roadmap for funding mobile units. crisis in California.
Accessible through the national crisis and suicide hotline, 988, these services will connect users with crisis intervention specialists, counselors and peer support workers. Hall says this is the answer that could have helped his son.
“I can never take a phone call back,” Hall said, referring to the 911 call he made the day his son was killed. “I can never get rid of the officer who shot him… but I can take my pain on purpose and make sure this doesn’t happen to someone else.”
If you are experiencing a suicide, substance abuse, or other mental health crisis, call or text 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. You will be connected to a trained crisis counselor free of charge, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org.
