Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMU
Bread for the City, a D.C. nonprofit that provides food, medical, and social services to low-income residents, has filed a lawsuit against the city for sending armed D.C. police officers as “default” first responders to the scene of mental health crises.
Filed with the D.C. American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm Sheppard Mullin, the suit argues that D.C.’s current approach to emergency response services violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by denying people with mental health disabilities effective and equal access to emergency care — care that is otherwise provided when somebody calls 911 for a medical emergency. Instead of being met by trained mental health clinicians, the suit argues, most often individuals in crisis are met by armed police, putting them in further physical danger and exacerbating their mental health emergency.
“Someone who calls 911 for a physical health emergency gets trained medical providers who can treat and stabilize them. But someone who calls 911 for a mental health emergency gets a police officer with handcuffs and a gun,” Susan Mizner, director of the ACLU’s Disability Rights Program, said in a press release announcing the suit on Thursday.
Through the Department of Behavioral Health, the city operates community response teams (CRTs), a service staffed by mental health clinicians and peer support specialists meant to respond to mental health emergencies. Cities, counties, and higher education...
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