Mom Makes Plea For Mental Health Awareness In Wake Of Son's Death
RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) - A mother says she wants justice, 24 hours after her son was shot and killed by police.
It happened on Olson and Zinfandel drives in a parking lot in Rancho Cordova. Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies say 32-year-old Mikel McIntyre hit a police officer with a rock after attacking a woman.
But today, McIntyre's family says they were there and have a different story to tell.
"They're supposed to protect and serve," said Brigett McIntrye, Mikel's mother. "They're not doing their job. They actually just killed my son! He's my only child."
The pain of McIntrye's death is too much to bear for his mother. But she says it's even worse because police misunderstood the situation.
"He just wanted the keys, he did not hit me, he did not choke me," she told CBS13.
McIntyre says she drove to the parking lot on Olson and Zinfandel drives to give her son some clothes. Once the two were inside of her car, McIntyre says the two started to struggle over the keys and she screamed.
"Yes, I did holler for help," she explained. "Somebody help me; this is my son."
McIntyre says her son heard the sirens and started to run. Moments later, she heard the gunshots and had a feeling the target was her son.
Sgt. Tony Turnbull with Sacramento County Sheriff's Department says deputies got a call about a man attacking a woman in the parking lot of a shopping center in Rancho Cordova. Turnbull says the first deputy on the scene tried to restrain McIntyre, but he started to fight with the officer. The officer fell and Turnbull says McIntyre picked up a rock and hit him.
"He used deadly force using a large river rock to hit the officer over the head," Turnbull said. "It could have been a lot worse."
He says McIntyre threw a rock at a K-9 officer before running onto Highway 50, where officers shot him.
"I don't know how a person can hold a boulder, run and then through a boulder and hit a dog over the head while you're shot," McIntyre said.
But hours before the shooting, Mikel's family called 911 saying they thought he was having a mental breakdown.
"He was acting strange," McIntyre said.
After losing his aunt and struggling with custody of his son, McIntyre hoped officers would take Mikel to the hospital.
"They did an evaluation on him to see if there were any mental health issues and he did not meet the criteria," Turnbull said.
Heartbroken that her 7-month-old grandson will never know his father, McIntyre wants officers to take mental health issues more seriously.
"Two minutes is not an evaluation," she said. "If they would have taken him earlier, he would still be here."
McIntyre says Mikel didn't have any drug or alcohol issues. He was just going through a tough time, she says.
She hopes other families don't have to go through what she's experienced.