Christopher Clayton Rice files federal lawsuit against officer

Police aren’t geared up to deal with mentally wholesome residents with out getting trigger-happy and are even much less geared up to deal with these with particular wants who could also be experiencing behavioral points stemming from a incapacity. Politicians and activists have talked about this time and time once more and this story serves as one other unhappy instance of this extensively ignored fact.

In accordance with a report by WTKR, a 34-year-old man named Christopher Clayton Rice has filed a $20 million federal lawsuit in opposition to the town of Hampton, Virginia, and Officer Bryan Wilson who shot him 3 occasions within the chest, arm, and thigh whereas he was within the throes of a psychological well being disaster. On Jan. 22, 2022, workers at Wynne Ford automotive dealership referred to as 911 to report that Rice, who had visited earlier within the week to inquire a few automobile, was strolling across the constructing with a baseball bat. When a feminine officer tried to get Rice to disarm himself of the bat, a battle ensued and he or she was hit within the head with the bat.

Officer Bryan Wilson radioed that he believed that Rice was affected by psychological points however no psychological well being skilled was referred to as to assist de-escalate the tense scenario. Nevertheless, Wilson was the one officer on the scene to attract his service pistol after his feminine colleague was struck as the opposite officers on the scene pulled their tasers with hopes of incapacitating Rice with out using lethal pressure.

Wilson in the end fired the three rounds that struck Rice and ended the “standoff”. Rice’s attorneys say that he suffers from recognized paranoid schizophrenia and it was apparent to all these current that he was not of sound thoughts within the second.

“The easy truth is that Clayton Rice was having a psychological well being disaster. Everybody might see it,” one among his attorneys, Bakari Sellers, stated. “Even Officer Wilson commented on it. However they didn’t ship a physician or medical professionals. They despatched regulation enforcement with their weapons drawn. That’s not solely irresponsible. It’s a recipe for catastrophe and Clayton Rice is fortunate to be alive.”

Rice’s lawsuit accuses Wilson of violating the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments along with gross negligence on the a part of the town. We’ll be shocked if he doesn’t get at the very least half of the $20 million in a settlement.

BOSSIP may have extra data because it turns into obtainable.