Illustration by Chris Kindred
As we usher in a new year, we often take the time to reflect on the past. We ask: How can this year be better than the last? Can we avoid making the same mistakes? Can we make better decisions?
It is hard not to keep thinking about 24-year-old Marcus-David Lamar Peters and the tragic incident that took place almost eight months ago. Regardless of the cause of his out-of-character behavior on May 14, 2018, what matters is that he was a Virginia Commonwealth University honors graduate, a teacher and mentor, a beloved son and brother, a public servant — and that he was in distress. Marcus needed help, not death.
We are mental health professionals who support the Justice and Reformation for Marcus-David Peters coalition. We feel a moral obligation to speak out in response to the August report by Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Herring that concluded Peters’ death was “an act of justifiable homicide.” We have listened to Peters’ family speak to Mayor Levar Stoney and ask that justice, in some way, be served. Unfortunately, his family still waits.
While it’s clear that Marcus was in distress, it’s also possible that he was experiencing “first episode psychosis,” a diagnosis used when someone first shows signs of beginning to lose contact with reality. Symptoms of psychosis most commonly begin between the ages of 18 and 24. Generally speaking, the best way to approach someone experiencing psychosis would be in a calm, nonthreatening manner.
Marcus needed help, not death.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness, in collaboration with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, noted that 60 percent of adults with mental illnesses did not receive services in 2015. Increasingly worrisome is the disparity between respondents based on race: African-Americans and Latino-Americans use mental health services at approximately half the rate of use of white Americans and Asian-Americans at approximately one-third this rate. This can be interpreted to show the stigma against folks who name their mental health diagnoses, or worse, show their diagnoses.
The lack of community-based mental health crisis services has resulted in law enforcement often serving as first responders. The Richmond Police Department and others in the region have made great strides toward ensuring that officers receive Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training, an educational approach aimed to improve the outcomes of encounters between police and community members in distress. But even with CIT training, a police officer is not a mental health professional. In Marcus’ case, the responding officer was CIT-trained, and yet the encounter ended with the death of a community member. This brings into question whether police officers have enough educational opportunities to manage the full complexities of mental health crises.
In the case of Peters, we saw an unarmed, naked man gunned down after he verbally threatened and continued to approach the officer, and after a taser failed to make significant contact. There was no use of nonthreatening commands or “soft” hand tactics such as using a hold to restrain someone, and the situation escalated within seconds to deadly force. This all-too-common result from a challenging situation must not happen without objection from the wider public.
This essay could not be complete without our acknowledgement of Marcus’ race and the role that this played during his encounter with police. We know that there are systems of power that provide advantages or obstacles to a person based on identifying characteristics (race, nationality, physical ability, sexuality, gender identity, etc.). In America, unarmed black men continue to be disproportionately killed at the hands of police. Given what we know about subconscious bias and internalized racism, the fact that the responding officer was also black does not necessarily eliminate this obstacle.
We challenge the Richmond community to think critically about privilege. How can we as a society begin to look at the systems of power and reconcile with how they continue to keep sectors of our population from thriving?
As we move into 2019, we support the Peters coalition’s call for a full release and independent review of the police department’s Crisis Intervention Team curriculum. We also support the creation of a “Marcus Alert” to call on a team of mental health professionals as first responders when a person is experiencing a mental health crisis, and the establishment of an elected Police Civilian Review Board with subpoena power.
On May 14, 2018, Marcus-David Peters experienced one of his worst mental health days. This one bad day should not be the defining moment of his life. He was a young man in distress who needed help, and his community failed him.
Amanda Long and Megan Sharkey are mental health professionals working in Richmond. Another colleague, Malaina Poore, contributed input for this essay.