In Salt Lake City, Utah, a 13-year-old autistic boy is recovering in the hospital from a host of injuries due to a police shooting. On Friday night, police shot the boy multiple times while he was reportedly in the middle of a mental health episode. The boy's name is Linden Cameron and he has Asperger's syndrome. His mother, Golda Barton, says Linden suffered several injuries — to his shoulder, his ankles, his intestines, and his bladder.
Now his mother is speaking out about the shooting that severely injured her son. Barton says that she called the police to ask for a crisis intervention team to come and help her. Because of Linden's autism, Barton says it can be more difficult to communicate with her child or calm him down at times. She says that she explained what was happening to the team and told them that her son needed to be taken to the hospital where he could receive treatment.
It's already extremely tough to be a parent of a child with special needs, but in many cases, those parents need backup. However, in this case, when a mother called to get help for her child, the result was disastrous. Now that mother is talking about what happened to her son.
Barton says the event was utterly traumatic. It was the first day she had returned to work in almost a year. That's because she can't be away from her son due to his severe separation anxiety — a common issue for children with autism. On the phone, she made sure to explain to officers what the best way to approach her child would be.
Clearly, the officers were not paying attention. Barton says she was told to stay while the two officers went through the front door of her Glendale home. But in just a few minutes, she heard officers screaming at her child to "get down on the ground." Then several gunshots were fired.
Barton was terrified and thought her son was dead, she said. Officers then handcuffed the seriously injured child. The event is deeply unsettling for so many reasons. There are no real signs that the officers were making a concerted effort to calm the boy down or help him. But shooting a child, especially one with special needs in the middle of a mental health episode, should never happen.
Barton says she heard that one of the officers was clearly troubled by the event. She says he could be seen grabbing his own head in disbelief for what had happened. He said out loud, according to what the mother was told, "He's just a child, what are you doing?"
An investigation into the shooting is underway into exactly what happened. But the whole situation is hard to believe. It seems like the police have a very different account of what happened. The Salt Lake City Police Department said police were called to the area for a report of a "violent psych issue" involving the juvenile "having a mental episode" and "making threats to some folks with a weapon." Barton says she told police that her child was unarmed.
It's unthinkable to imagine a mother witnessing something like this happening to her child. As she recounted what happened, she said, "He's a small child. Why didn't you just tackle him? He's a baby. He has mental issues." They are the same questions many people are asking.
The whole incident brings up issues about proper police training and protocols. Oftentimes, it seems like incidents where police are called to deescalate a situation have the opposite effect. In this situation, a boy was seriously injured, but the result could've been far worse. He could have easily lost his life in the shooting.
The boy is still recovering, and it seems like he will have a long road ahead of him due to all of his injuries. Barton says she doesn't have much family support, but the boy's father did drive down from Iowa when he heard the news that his son had been shot. "He [is] an amazing father," Barton said.
No matter what kind of mental health episode the boy was having, trained officers should be able to control a situation of this kind without hurting a child. Clearly, there's a lot to be uncovered here. But it's yet another incident that shows how desperately the police in this country need better training, especially when it comes to mental health cases.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the family with medical expenses.
