Police shoot suicidal man in need of help at home

Justin Way, a recovering alcoholic was drunk and lying in bed,threatening to kill himself with a knife when his girlfriend called the cops-- to help him on May 11.

The cops showed up alright, wielding assault rifles and shot him to death.

Way’s live-in girlfriend, Kaitlyn Christine Lyons, said she’d caught Justin drinking a bottle of vodka, which she took away from him to pour out. She said he was drunk, lying in their bed with a large knife, saying he would hurt himself with it. She called a non-emergency number in an attempt to get her boyfriend to a local St. Augustine, Florida, hospital for help—and told them she did not feel threatened.

Denise Way, Justin’s mom, said the detective relayed to her that “they told Justin to drop the knife and he didn’t—so they shot him because ‘That’s what we do.’”

Denise said Smith then told her about “this new trend in law enforcement now—it’s called suicide by cop.” She said Smith explained “suicide by cop” is when suicidal people provoke the police in an effort to end their own lives.

Justin’s parents do not believe their son was a threat, because they think Justin was shot while still lying in bed.

Just this year another mentally ill man was shot by cops. 

Will someone please educate law enforcement officers on how to handle mentally unstable people  before this gets further out of hand.

Poor man!