Berkeley police use inhumane restraint in response to mental health crisis

Today, Aug 27, 2024 the Specialized Care Unit (SCU) steering committee is being dissolved, even though the SCU has not even officially launched, and 911 dispatch does not direct calls to them. The promise of a 24-7 SCU has not been fulfilled and the future of the SCU is uncertain.

On Sunday Aug 25 at 10:10am near Gilman and San Pablo, we witnessed police responding to a mental health crises by restraining, traumatizing, and endangering a Berkeley unhoused resident. Witnesses said the person was walking in traffic and talking to themselves. Police drove by, yelled at them. Then turned back, tackled the individual, threw them on the hood of the car, and then restrained them. This video shows police using a spit hood, helmet, handcuffs, and WRAP (full body restraint) device on the individual experiencing a mental health crisis.

Did the police call the SCU? No. Could they wait for an ambulance? No. Instead of de-escalating and supporting the individual, Berkeley police treated them like an object. The individual mentions that they can’t breath. They mention that they feel they’re being raped. They reference confusion over where they’re being taken, asking about jail. Officers say they aren’t arresting, so where are officers taking them?

After the police murder of Kayla Moore in 2013, and despite the promises made after the BLM uprising in 2014 and the George Floyd uprising in 2020, and the creation of the Specialized Care Unit in Berkeley, we still cannot get humane care for people with mental health challenges. If the city council goes ahead with its plan to go after encampments, then we can expect even more incidents that look like this. More trauma in our communities. So when the city council votes to attack encampments, they are sanctioning this kind of cruelty. They do so knowing that what they call “care” is often gross abuse at the hands of police.