Paper: Houston Chronicle

Date: Wed 01/10/2007

HPD's crisis team chief defends effort to handle suspect / Mentally ill man shot to death after a 2-hour standoff

By PEGGY O'HARE, MIKE GLENN Staff

The lieutenant supervising the Houston Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team is defending the failed efforts to defuse a standoff that resulted in an officer's killing a mentally ill man Sunday. Lt. Michael Lee, who has been part of the HPD program since it was launched in 1999 to help police deal with the mentally ill, praised a CIT officer's unsuccessful attempts to coax Omar B. Esparza's peaceful surrender.

Esparza, 21, had locked his family out of their house, then stationed himself inside the residence, holding a hammer and refusing officers' pleas to come out. After two hours of failed talks, several officers went into the house, where the man was shot to death by officer Rodney D. Chaison Jr.

Police have said Esparza charged at the officers, with a hammer raised above his head.

Preliminary autopsy results released Tuesday showed Esparza died from multiple gunshot wounds to the left arm, "extending to the chest." Lee said Tuesday that he could not comment on all the specifics surrounding Esparza's death since he is not privy to the ongoing internal affairs investigation. But the CIT's mission - and the philosophy behind it - did not fail in this case, he said.

"The CIT officer was called and was sent to the scene. Did the officer establish communications and try? I was told yes, they tried. They did a good job, and they tried. I was happy with that. That's all I can ask for from the CIT officer," Lee said.

HPD procedures do not dictate any sort of minimum or maximum time limit on how long officers should talk to a person before concluding such negotiations aren't working, Lee said.

If it appears communications have failed, officers will contact HPD's Command Center for advice or will consult a police supervisor in the field.

The Harris County Precinct 1 Constable's Office, which serves all mental health warrants issued by judges committing people to the Harris County Psychiatric Center, also has no policies mandating how long officers should talk to a mentally ill person who refuses to cooperate, said Assistant Chief J.C. Mosier.

One local mental-health advocate said it would be difficult for law-enforcement agencies to mandate a protocol dictating how long officers should talk with an uncooperative mentally ill person.

"If there's danger to someone else, obviously the protocol is to act immediately. If someone is not posing a danger to anyone else, it seems like there would be a lot longer time span" to talk, said Betsy Schwartz, executive director of the Mental Health Association of Greater Houston. The larger issue, Schwartz said, is that hundreds of other Houstonians like Esparza are just as vulnerable to volatile situations because a lack of funding has limited access to much-needed mental health services.

 

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