Chill Out

He was a frail, sickly kid, all of five feet six inches tall. He was shy and socially awkward, but his family recalled that he was warm and supportive and always knew how to make them laugh. 

He was gentle and kind. On his days off, he took his violin to the animal rescue shelter and played music for the kittens. 

One evening, he went to the convenience store to buy something for his little brother. He wore a ski mask, but the clerk was not alarmed. She recognized him. He was a regular customer. He suffered from anemia, and the mask helped him stay warm. It also helped him overcome his fear of strangers.

He didn’t do anything wrong. He was not suspected of committing a crime. He had not threatened or menaced anyone; to do so would be completely at odds with his gentle nature.

As he walked home from the store that evening listening to music in his headphones, a man saw him walking. The man called 911 to report a “suspicious” person. When the the 911 operator asked if the caller had seen any weapons, he said no.

Three police officers arrived promptly and ordered the awkward young man in the ski mask to stop. He explained that he was walking home. The police officers grabbed him and held him without provocation. They didn’t question him first, and to their knowledge, he had committed no crime. They accused him of “acting suspicious.”

Suspicion is in the mind of the beholder. He was different. He was socially awkward. His attire was unusual. 

The young man panicked and struggled. The police subdued him with a choke hold. The young man passed out briefly. When he came to, he was terrified. He didn’t understand why the police were hurting him. He explained who he was. He offered to show them his ID. He threw up a few times and told the officers that he was having trouble breathing. The officers told him to “chill out.”

The officers called for “more units” to come to the scene. Apparently, this small, frail man was more than three trained, armed police officers could handle. They also called an ambulance. When the EMTs arrived, the police asked them to sedate this whimpering, desperate, anemic kid with an injection of ketamine, a powerful sedative. 

Under the influence of the drug, this gentle young man’s heart stopped. The EMTs applied CPR. Over the next few days, the young man suffered a number of health crises that left him brain dead. His family took him off of life support, and he slipped away.

Think about your own family. Think about the families of people you know. Think of someone in one of those families who is a little bit different, someone who is gentle and kind but presents themselves in a way that strangers might find initially confusing. 

Imagine that someone in the community saw this person that you know walking down the street and called 911 to report a “suspicious character.”

Imagine the police arriving and subduing that person with a brutal choke hold without first talking to them to understand who they are and assess whether they posed a threat.

Imagine the police taking the extraordinary measure to have the person sedated with a powerful chemical despite the fact that they are not doctors and possess no understanding of the person’s medical history.

Imagine a family losing a kind, loving person forever due to a callous and completely unnecessary use of force.

(In memory of Elijah McClain)