It took two minutes and 33 seconds for Fort Lee police to go from not wanting to harm Victoria Lee to fatally shooting her.
Disturbing physique digital camera footage launched by the New Jersey Legal professional Common’s Workplace on Friday reveals officers responding to the condo of the 26-year-old lady having a psychological well being disaster.
Her household, who had referred to as 911, watched as police broke into the condo and shot Lee who had been threatening to stab them. Her mom stood by Lee’s aspect as she was shot and their canine might be heard barking within the background.
Instantly after the shot was fired, an officer yelled, “Oh F***! F***!”
Lee’s brother advised a dispatcher that he didn’t need police to return in any respect, however the video reveals a big police response, with at the very least one officer carrying a protect.
Officers with the Fort Lee Police Division responded to a name from a person who stated his sister was experiencing a psychological well being disaster and wanted to go to the hospital at round 1:25 a.m. on July 28, based on a press launch from the Legal professional Common’s Workplace.
In one of many two launched calls to 911 obtained by Newsweek, the person stated his sister had a knife, however when police shot Lee she was holding a water bottle.
Physique digital camera video reveals an officer chatting with the brother within the hallway of The Pinnacle condo complicated on Foremost Avenue.
Two girls opened the door to the condo briefly earlier than closing it once more. The officer repeatedly asks them to open the door.
New Jersey Workplace of the Legal professional Common
The cops broke down the door and entered the condo after the ladies didn’t adjust to their requests.
The Legal professional Common’s Workplace stated the deadly shot was fired by Police Officer Tony Pickens, Jr.
Pickens was one of many officers who determined to make use of “deadly” power when officers had been discussing the right way to method the state of affairs earlier than breaking down the door.
Lee was shot within the chest and officers supplied medical help. She was taken to Englewood Hospital, the place she was pronounced useless at round 1:58 a.m.
A knife was recovered on the scene.
After a responding officer completed interviewing Chris Lee within the hallway, he requested to enter the condo however Chris Lee didn’t have a key. The household stated the officer pushed Chris Lee apart and “began to forcefully kick the door.”
When officers broke down the door, the household stated Lee had already dropped the pocketknife and he or she was holding a 5-gallon Poland Spring plastic water jug “non-threateningly.”
Pickens then shot Victoria Lee.
New Jersey Workplace of the Legal professional Common
They stated Victoria Lee suffered from bipolar dysfunction. She had been attending faculty however withdrew in 2021 on account of her struggles with the dysfunction.
They referred to as the police response “unnecessarily aggressive.”
“The ache and grief our household is experiencing are past phrases. Victoria was a vibrant and loving particular person with a promising future, and her premature demise has left a void that may by no means be stuffed,” the Lee household assertion stated. “Our household is dedicated to in search of justice for Victoria and can be working intently with authorized representatives to make sure that the complete and correct particulars of this tragic incident are delivered to mild.”
There have been 5 deadly police-involved shootings in New Jersey in 2024 to date, the Legal professional Common’s Workplace advised Newsweek.
A lawyer for the household didn’t reply to Newsweek’s repeated requests for remark.
Enhancing Responses to Malestal Well being Crises
Newsweek spoke to consultants on the forefront of enhancing assist for folks experiencing psychological well being crises.
Dr. Phillip Atiba Solomon, CEO and co-founder of the Middle for Policing Fairness, stated police kill about three folks per day on common.
“All of them are tragic,” Solomon stated. “Those which are particularly tragic to me, or a few of them which are essentially the most tragic are those the place household reached out for assist, somebody was coping with a psychological sickness, they made it painstakingly clear, ‘hey, here is what to anticipate’ and the police nonetheless kill that particular person.”
He stated that seems to be the case within the killing of Lee.
“You simply take a look at that and also you say there have been so many alternatives for that particular person to nonetheless be alive as we speak,” Solomon stated.
Asantewaa Boykin, co-founder of the Anti Police-Terror Venture, stated she was “shocked, but additionally not shocked as a result of it occurs so typically.”
“I actually simply felt for her brother and her mother, as a result of I do know there is a widespread theme of oldsters blaming themselves as a result of they did not have choices [besides] calling the police,” Boykin stated.
When legislation enforcement officers reply to a psychological well being name, Boykin stated they typically understand the particular person experiencing the emergency as dangerous.
“Whether or not it is Sonya Massey who has a pot of water or if it is Victoria who has a water jug once they arrived, they understand that as a risk after which they reply accordingly.”
Massey, a 36-year-old Black lady, was fatally shot by Sangamon County Sheriff’s Workplace Deputy Sean Grayson on July 6. She was killed shortly after officers ordered her to maneuver a pot of boiling water off of the range. Distinguished civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who’s representing Massey’s household, stated she struggled together with her psychological well being.
Solomon defined that police are sometimes licensed to make use of power on people who should not being compliant.
“In case you have somebody who’s within the midst of an acute psychological well being emergency, it’ll be very troublesome for them to conform,” Solomon stated. “And so you find yourself with somebody who’s been given instructions, they are not doing what legislation enforcement desires them to do and issues escalate from there.”
The Middle for Policing Fairness helps communities discover alternate options to legislation enforcement when responding to psychological well being emergencies.
“Regulation enforcement can by no means be adequately skilled to establish and de-escalate with folks with severe psychological sickness. So if you do not have any person there who has that coaching, you are at an infinite drawback.”
Solomon stated New Jersey communities have adopted these alternate options, however Fort Lee has not.
“If that they had somebody who was skilled in psychological well being response within the lead, you have to consider that you find yourself with a special type of end result,” Solomon stated.
Boykin additionally emphasised the significance of making and constructing consciousness of sources for individuals who battle with psychological well being.
“We all know that police terror occurs in these conditions the place somebody is having a psychological well being disaster and household or pals or bystanders do not have a alternative or aren’t conscious of choices to assist mitigate these crises,” Boykin stated. “And I want to put emphasis on conscious, as a result of nearly each main metropolis has another of some type, whether or not that is co-response or community-based group response.”
Co-response policing is when legislation enforcement responds to psychological well being calls accompanied by a psychological well being skilled.
Solomon laid out what members of the general public can do to assist enhance sources of their group.
“You’ll be able to present as much as city halls on policing, learn the way the police really perform in your metropolis, in your group, after which demand to your native [elected officials], in addition to to legislation enforcement instantly, that they implement a few of these alternate options to legislation enforcement,” Solomon stated. “You will get engaged in your native political context to ensure that your mayor, metropolis council [and] police fee understands that you have a voice and you are going to be actually loud and of their ear about what you assume retains communities protected.”
Boykin inspired folks to place stress on their state, county and municipality to enact these different strategies of response.
For households who’ve misplaced a cherished one to police brutality, the Anti Police-Terror Venture connects them with sources and assist teams.
“When you might have that group of oldsters who’ve related experiences, I believe it actually does empower folks to, one, heal and, two, to go do one thing about it,” Boykin stated. “Which is what they’re doing. They’re constructing legacies round their relations’ tales.”
Solomon urged folks to not change into discouraged, and stated optimistic progress is being made.
“Each one in all these [killings] lands like a boulder, however the ones that do not die, the locations the place it is working, it is like feathers,” Solomon stated. “You do not know the names of the individuals who did not get killed. So I do not need folks to really feel like there’s not hope right here. They’ve simply acquired to do some digging to have the ability to discover it. And it is arduous to weigh feathers in opposition to boulders.”
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