Welcome to this incendiary, investigative episode of Light ‘Em Up!
As we wrap-up our multi-episode series where we’ve analyzed how nuanced and deadly policing the mentally ill has become – tonight, we dig deep into the killing of Brian Umana at the hands of 2 officers with the National City, CA Police Department (NCPD), near San Diego.
Brian, 28, the father of a little girl, found himself in the unrelenting grip of a mental health crisis that was rapidly spiraling downward. He suffered from bipolar disease and schizophrenia, according to our special guest, his brother Roberto Umana, whom we have the distinct honor and privilege of speaking with.
● In the U.S. about 1 in 5 adults suffer from a diagnosable mental illness in any given year.
● According to The National Alliance on Mental Illness, 43.8 million adults in the U.S. experience mental illness each year.
Brian needed help – not 10 bullets. He needed to be afforded the chance to be taken to the hospital and assessed and treated – as is the case in New York City where Mayor Eric Adams has ordered law enforcement to bring those who are on the streets and suffering mental health issues to a hospital for “involuntary hospitalization”.
Sadly, we see this far too often. People with untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement.
Barefoot, in the rain and silently pacing back and forth in the early morning hours of October 8, 2021, holding a machete in his right hand, was how the NCPD encountered Brian when they arrived on the scene.
Within 3 minutes he was dead. Shot 10 times by officer Evan Davis and Michael Sportelli (4 times with a handgun and 6 more times with a long gun at close range).
The NCPD had a K-9 officer on scene and they never deployed him. They could have employed a less-lethal bean-bag weapon, they never deployed it. A taser was deployed but did not subdue Brian.
We ask:
What was the pressing rush to bring this encounter to an immediate conclusion? The sidewalk was empty of people. It was raining at about 4 am in the morning. After the officers felt that they had given a sufficient number of “commands”, they moved in and approached Brian -- Brian didn’t approach them.
Why has the city of National City and its police department “stonewalled” this family for more than a year in not releasing the police report regarding the shooting?
The Umana family has now filed a federal lawsuit against the city, police department and officers involved in the shooting for the violation of Brian’s civil rights under the color of authority.
It could easily be argued that from watching the body worn police camera footage that the National City Police Department could stand to undergo far more rigorous Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) and educate its officers with far more zeal and rigor. Too often, the police are thrust into a position of providing a type of “triage service” to the mentally ill that they are neither trained to deliver nor prepared to perform.
Ride along with us as we investigate the tragic killing of Brian Umana - a heart-breaking story that certainly should and could have been avoided – as we continue our quest to bring freedom, justice, dignity and equality – and to endeavor to persevere in being a “voice” for the “voiceless” – in a time when the truth is under attack.
You can find Roberto’s petition for justice on behalf of his brother, Brian, here.
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Executive Producer, Phil Rizzo