Comments on: Breaking: David Kerstetter’s Family To Sue The District

By: Роман

Роман — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:05:57 +0000

Первые два комментатора говорят правду :)

By: Lee

Lee — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:33:07 +0000

Lanier has done nothing to support her officers as they try to police this city. All she does is give in to pressure from the press, instead of doing what she knows is right.

By: Jason Cherkis

Jason Cherkis — Wed, 20 May 2009 01:56:17 +0000

Lanier thinks her rank and file have the time. That's why she's decided to change how officers respond to people with mental illness.

Lee--see above.

By: Lee

Lee — Tue, 19 May 2009 21:40:04 +0000

Jason, you say officers have the time. I take it you are making this statement based on your vast experience handling armed mentally ill individuals who are trying to stab you with knifes for other edge weapons, and your overwhelming success employing this fantasy program your write about all the time.

The facts is, you don't know what you are talking about. You should restrict yourself to rendering opinions on subjects you are an expert in, and qualified to give opinions on. As I see it you are qualified to give professional opinions on print journalism nothing else. By the way, how about reporting the facts and letting the reader draw his or her own conclusion. Your writing in this and most of your artilce about policing protray officers negatively.

By: Ray

Ray — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:02:15 +0000

I was Paul's partner for several years after he moved to D.C. Although we had not been in contact for many years before his death in 2007, it still came as a shock. I was particularly saddened to learn that his years with David were so stressful. Paul was a sweet, wonderful man and deserved so much better. I would like to hear from anyone who would like to share any reminiscences they have about Paul at raysmithva(at)hotmail(dot)com.

By: Erica

Erica — Fri, 15 May 2009 18:29:02 +0000

This wasn't a murder. This was a suicide; a 'successful' suicide after numerous recent failed suicide attempts. And a very sad event for all involved, including the police officers who tried to help.

David was sick and crazy and on drugs. He hadn't really worked for 15 years and had been totally dependent on his partner Paul who passed away a year earlier. Without Paul, he went from one tail spin to another - and took his friends, neighbors and loved ones with him.

People are judging the situation based on what they hear form the attorney, the author and his parents - none of whom were there. Those people who were there know what happened - and it wasn't murder.

By: Jason Cherkis

Jason Cherkis — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:07:58 +0000

They do have the time. Dozens of police departments have adopted what advocates in this city wanted. It's called the CIT Model.You can read about it here:

http://www.memphispolice.org/Crisis%20Intervention.htm

And here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=0aqB_6tyM-IC&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=CIT+or+Memphis+Model+in+community+policing&source=bl&ots=VmKqidD73z&sig=4ik13P1LEgMJgPYAUTHAxWxRfg4&hl=en&ei=8YcMSp-dJIyw8ATf3_zRDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#PPA36,M1

And guess what? Lanier has moved toward adopting the CIT model as well. Even she thinks her own police officers can handle it.

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:00:33 +0000

Jason wrote: The residents–or at least a band of concerned lawyers, judges, advocates, mental-health workers–decided more than a decade ago what they wanted the D.C. Police to do. They lobbied for the police department to actually train and professionalize it’s response to people w/ a mental illness. Even the head of DMH lobbied for it when he first arrived.

That does nothing for the officer in the street making life and death decisions in split seconds. All the Monday morning quaterbacking will not change the fact that officers must act, they do not have the time to do all the things you keep writing about.

By: dave

dave — Thu, 14 May 2009 19:34:55 +0000

If you keep the focus of your articles on the latter part of your last comment, I think you'll have a much better story (who wouldn't want a police officer to be as well trained as possible?). But if you keep the Kerstetter shooting as opinionated as you've been writing it, then, I almost hate to say it, but that's no better than what Bill O'Reilly does.....and that's just low.

By: Jason Cherkis

Jason Cherkis — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:43:32 +0000

Sparks is known for these kinds of settlements.Read this:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2008/04/09/dept-of-corrections-apologizes/

Also, officers may handle mentally ill residents every day. But enough watchdogs and interested parties believed they could do much better. The Office of Police Complaints had lobbied Chief Ramsey and Chief Lanier on that point.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=34836

Like I said above, advocates have pressed for more than a decade for D.C. Police to make this issue a priority.

By: dave

dave — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:17:41 +0000

Officers handle mentally ill people every day. They can properly handle thousands of cases without one person acknowledging or appreciating it, and then they have to justifiably use deadly force one time, and they are accused of murder. If the blood splatter and trajectory results can not be refuted and show, without a doubt, that the officers executed Kerstetter as he sat motionless on the floor, then I hope they prosecute the officers and send them to jail for a long time. But I find it almost impossible to believe that a Master Patrol Officer with more than 20 years on the job and a rookie would decide to do that. A person who is near retirement and a young officer with his whole career ahead of him...and they're both going to decide to risk everything and execute someone? That just doesn't seem likely to me. As with all shootings, they should investigate, but this forum and these articles have already labeled these officers guilty of murder. Hardly objective writing Jason. As for what the family asks the city for in the settlement....we'll see. I'll be impressed if they resove it like the Rosenabum family did and use these events for the benefit of the community, but Sparks isn't really known for those kinds of settlements now...is he?

By: Jason Cherkis

Jason Cherkis — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:54:24 +0000

I also think Dave that you are willfully ignoring Sparks forensic findings i.e. blood spatter analysis that points to Kerstetter sitting or crouching when he was killed.

By: Jason Cherkis

Jason Cherkis — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:53:28 +0000

The family and Sparks are doing exactly what the Rosenbaum Family did. All they want is for this to never happen again. The lawsuit isn't about the money.

I've been told by Sparks repeatedly that he is using the Rosenbaum case as a model.

By: dave

dave — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:43:50 +0000

___ is right. And that's sort of what I said early on; "It could have been a great series of pieces pointing out a potential void of training that the MPD should fill by having officers (or a unit of officers) with a better understanding of mental health issues....", but unfortunately, that's not how the article was written or the response Mr. Cherkis wanted to encourage. I wish the need for training was the focus instead of the perception that the two officers decided to execute Kerstetter and then his family using Sparks to grab some $$ from the city. If they really wanted to use the loss of their son to better others (and not themselves), they would do what the family of David Rosenbaum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_E._Rosenbaum) did and make the law suit examine the MPD's ability to respond to individuals with mental health issues.

By: __

__ — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:19:24 +0000

Just last year a suicidal man crashed his car and was brought to GW. After a 4 hour stand off, he leapt to his death from the 3rd story window at GW Hosp The whole medical community and a special mental health crisis mediation team were unable to save him.
Obviously each case is different but just as obviously no system is perfect and it's pure speculation to get into woulda coulda shoulda talk.