“He immediately opened the door and struck the clinician and an officer who was outside the door.”
Police "reforms" in Boston replaced cops with mental health clinicians and social workers, and on Saturday one of those clinicians was attacked by a delusional man wielding a sword. The suspect, who has not been publicly identified, attacked the clinician as well as police officers with the sword. Cops responded by shooting and killing the suspect.
The incident took place near the Northeastern University campus on Saturday morning in Boston. Officers were responding to a 911 call about four people armed with guns and the caller was in the apartment building. After officers arrived at 212 Hemenway Street and located the disturbance they called in a mental health professional with the Boston's BEST program, according to Mass Daily News.
The program, in which mental health professionals ride along with cops to de-escalate tense situations, has been running since 2011. The EMS clinician deployed to the scene spoke to the man for 45 minutes through the door before the suspect pushed open the door and attacked.
"He immediately opened the door and struck the clinician and an officer who was outside the door. He was armed with some type of sword, stabbing the officer in the arm and knocking the EMS clinician to the ground," Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said. "One or more officers, which is under investigation at this time, fired a taser and weapon at the individual, bringing the person to a halt."
The suspect as well as the officers and clinician that were attacked by the suspect were taken to the hospital. The suspect was later pronounced dead. "This was a very chaotic circumstance. The individual was clearly in some sort of mental distress," Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said.
Boston EMS said in a statement that their employee had gotten injured in the altercation.
"Our focus tonight remains on the two members of Boston EMS, including one of our BEST clinicians, who were treated and transported to the hospital after the incident on Hemenway Street in Boston. Both suffered non-life-threatening injuries," the statement read.
"Today serves as a reminder of the dangers inherent in this work and the sacrifice our members make every day. Members of Boston EMS show up to save lives — not to be assaulted. No one should face violence for simply doing their job. Our thoughts are with our injured members, the Boston Police officers, and everyone affected by today’s incident."
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