Parents in Los Angeles’ Koreatown called for mental health help in the middle of their son’s bipolar episode this month. Clinical personnel showed up — and so did police shortly after.
Police fatally shot Yong Yang, 40, who had a knife in his hand, less than 10 seconds after officers opened the door to his parents’ apartment where he had locked himself in, newly released bodycam video shows.
Now the parents of Yang, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder around 15 years ago, have told NBC News exclusively that they are disputing part of the account captured on bodycam, in which police recount a clinician’s saying Yang was violent before the shooting on May 2.
The video, which Los Angeles police uploaded to YouTube last Thursday, captured the encounter between officers and Yang. In it, the officers demand that Yang drop a knife in his hand, and an officer, now identified by police as Andres Lopez, shoots him seconds later.
Myung Sook Yang said she initially called the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health about her son on the morning of the shooting. Members of the county’s Psychiatric Mobile Response Team responded but ultimately turned to the police for assistance. She and her husband, Min Yang, said Yong had been hearing voices and wanted to be in the apartment alone.
“The whole situation was created so that he could protect himself. That’s all. He just yelled out. People were trying to barge in, and he clearly stated that ‘you guys are not invited,’” Min Yang said.
The Mental Health Department declined to comment on the case but provided a statement about circumstances in which field-based staff members would request law enforcement support.
“Our field intervention teams are trained to de-escalate mental health crises without law enforcement involvement,” the statement said. “In instances where de-escalation through clinical means is not possible, and the person in crisis remains an imminent threat to themselves or…
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