Bodycam footage of the shooting of 13-yr-old autistic Linden Cameron

either 10 or 11 shots can be heard at about 18:06. I’ve cued the video to 6:37 when the police reach Golda Barton’s car; here's hoping it works.

[video:https://youtu.be/0GKzqYmD9bk?t=397]

Via SCLPD:

This is body-worn camera footage from the Officer-Involved Critical Incident which occurred on September 4, 2020. The video begins when the officer activated their camera. The video is stopped after the shooting occurs in order to protect the privacy of the juvenile who was shot.

There are redactions in the audio of the video to protect the privacy interests of the juvenile. In 3 of the videos the officers gather to have a conversation, they mute their audio as per state law prior to turning the audio back on. This occurs approximately 10 minutes into the videos.

According to the SLCPD, Linden’s mother, Gold Barton had told dispatch:

‘Linden’s mother, Golda Barton, called the police to help him to hospital to receive mental health treatment;
‘His mother, Golda Barton, had warned police that her son said earlier that day on September 4, that he had a gun and had threatened to shoot her male coworker and break windows in the house, the video showed.
But she told officers she thought it was a BB gun or pellet gun. There were no indications he was armed.’

Coverage of who said what and when varies, but these details seem constant:

“Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Salt Lake Police Chief Mike Brown declined to directly address the content of the videos published, citing multiple ongoing investigations as reason for discretion.
“[As] the mother of a 14-year-old boy, I am profoundly heartbroken, and I am frustrated,” Mayor Mendenhall said.

The officer who shot him remains on paid leave pending investigation. A total of three separate investigations into the use of deadly force – by the local district attorney’s office, and the police department’s civilian review board and internal affairs division – are underway.

“We are facing a mental health crisis in this country, with a void of resources for those in crisis. And make no mistake, this is a crisis,” Chief Brown said.

Henceforth, all body cam footage will be released on the police department’s social media channels without the need for freedom of information requests or press conferences, the mayor confirmed.

There was no mention of the caliber of the bullets, but Linden had received damage to his colon. bladder, both ankles, right shoulder, that arm and hand are numb. His mother reports that he did finally manage to get out of hi hsoptial bed and into a wheelchair yesterday.

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At the end, you hear the cops yelling, "Get down!" or something like that. You could hear the adrenalin in their voices. For committing the crime of not lying on the ground, the cops blasted the shit out of that individual.

Although the ethnic dimension of "Black Lives Matter" is legitimate in my opinion for several very good reasons, the phrase, by definition, does not address cop paranoia, which I think is an even worse and more prevalent problem for everybody than White On Black police violence.

It is built into cop culture these days to "assume" that anybody of any age, size or color can suddenly produce a weapon and blow your head off. Not exactly wrong.

Instead of looking at the potential violence as something that can best be dealt with by a hail of bullets, our society that spends a lot of money on law enforcement might consider lowering the overall tendency to solve problems with gunfire -- starting with "policy" on shooting people who are not following orders to prostrate themselves. I get the cop response about how quickly somebody can kill you -- but they can shoot from the ground just as easily as they can shoot standing up.

When I used to represent a police union as a lawyer, I learned that they call it Voice Control -- they affect a tone of voice that intentionally suggests imminent violence if you do not obey. This mentality of domination fits perfectly with what the military veterans bring back from Iraq and Afghanistan.

When you act like an occupying army, the citizens very rationally get paranoid too, and some go fucking crazy.

This is the America we built.

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I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

usefewersyllables's picture

@fire with fire

"enemy combatants" now- black, white, young, old, whatever. A lot more people are going to get dead, because this occupying army of ours fears for their lives all the goddamned time, regardless of circumstance...

When you act like an occupying army, the citizens very rationally get paranoid too

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

wendy davis's picture

@fire with fire

it was dark, and i should offer an apology for having neglected to offer the original coverage from wsws on sept. 11, 2020: 'Autistic child gunned down by Salt Lake City Police’ to put his shooting in context.

Exemplifying the brutal class nature of police violence, the shooting of Cameron, who is white, comes less than a week after police body camera footage was released showing the March 23 police killing of Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old black man in Rochester, New York.

In both instances concerned family members reached out to emergency services to assist loved ones experiencing a mental health crisis and in both cases police responded with deadly force, killing Prude and leaving Linden with a long, painful road to recovery.
..................
Barton had called emergency services and requested a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) to assist her in transporting her son, who had previously been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, to the hospital. Barton was under the impression that police would use “the most minimal force possible.”
................
According to a spokesman for the Salt Lake City Police Department, detective Michael Ruff, all of the officers are “certified” in de-escalation techniques and new recruits are required to have 40 hours of crisis-intervention training.
.....................
“We’re very comfortable with the program we used and with the individuals who are teaching it,” Ruff said in an interview with the Associated Press following the shooting. While declining to state what steps or decisions might have led the police to unload multiple rounds into a child, Ruff reiterated, “there’s more than one way to be CIT trained.”
......................
“I heard the guns and the yelling and the guns, and then I sat there in my car for what felt like a long time and I was waiting for someone to walk over to me because I didn’t know what just happened,” Barton explained. “And I was like OK, um, OK … they just unloaded a whole clip in my son, and probably he’s dead because he’s so small.” [he didn't even weigh 100 lbs.]

Barton says she then saw police put handcuffs on her son as he was laying silent on the ground. She says she did not know if he was alive or dead and officers refused to tell her why they shot him. “He’s a small child. Why didn’t you just tackle him? He’s a baby. He has mental issues.”

Snoopy had brought daniel prude's murder, and while videos were hard to find, samuel davidson at wsws had located it in their sept. 5, 2020 coverage.

“You’re trying to kill me,” were some of the last understandable words spoken by Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old African American man, as seven police pressed his hooded head down to the pavement, covering his nose and mouth with their hands.

Footage from body-cam video shows police torturing Prude for several minutes while he lay naked, handcuffed and hooded on a freezing Rochester, New York, street on March 23.

The video, released this week by lawyers for Prude’s family, shows Prude, who was having a mental health episode, complying with police orders to lie face down and prone on the pavement with his hands behind his back.

Since the release of the video, the seven officers involved have been suspended with pay. Prude’s family is calling for their arrest.

he provides the narrative if you'd rather, but i'll embed it, and it comes with a warning. the pigs, and i use the term advisedly, are laughing a they murder him, as though they're auditioning to be stand-up comics. how can anyone ever be the same after witnessing both shootings, especially prude's murder. and knowing that the mentally ill are four times as often to be killed by the po-po...as not.

oh, my; i've lost the gist of your comment as to color on color violence; i might need to do a part II in a bit.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxQ3klqpoOg]

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wendy davis's picture

@fire with fire

responding to:

Although the ethnic dimension of "Black Lives Matter" is legitimate in my opinion for several very good reasons, the phrase, by definition, does not address cop paranoia, which I think is an even worse and more prevalent problem for everybody than White On Black police violence.

It is built into cop culture these days to "assume" that anybody of any age, size or color can suddenly produce a weapon and blow your head off. Not exactly wrong.

When I used to represent a police union as a lawyer, I learned that they call it Voice Control -- they affect a tone of voice that intentionally suggests imminent violence if you do not obey. This mentality of domination fits perfectly with what the military veterans bring back from Iraq and Afghanistan.

yes, many PDs give vets preferential hiring, as they know how to operate the weapons of military war given to PDs in the 1033 program. one suspects that many have PTSD, and anyone in their sights may be interpreted as 'the other'.

as to cop paranoia abut weapons being justified, many times they lie and have throw-down weapons, or they really saw a cell phone. but in the rare instances that killer kops reach trial, unions spend a hella lotta money on professionals who can re-enact 'split second decisions' kops face. and most get off.

yes: the first rule by kop is: OBEY, even when impossible. many homeless have mental health issues, and get mega-confuded my multiple orders from kops,including off the top of my head: james boyd in ABQ and kelly thomas in fullerton, CA, for two.

another heart-breaker was dear marvin booker, a street preacher in denver who spoke many of MLK, jr/s words to passers-by. but he wend back to get the only pair of shoes he owned, thus: failing to OBEY, and was killed (tased to death) for that audacity. i can't find an easy link or video, but this is the closest.

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usefewersyllables's picture

@wendy davis

a couple years ago who got dead when they no-knock SWATted the wrong address, and he was drinking a Pepsi in bed. Didn't set the can down fast enough, I guess, since he was already laying down. Oopsie. Scared people, those SWAT folks. Frightened for their lives at all times.

Comply or die. It's where we are these days, and it has become the law of the land- at least for proper definitions of the word "law"...

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

wendy davis's picture

@usefewersyllables

murder, as there are sooo many, but breonna taylor was assassinated in a no-knock raid, as well. iirc (not likely) the SWAT team burst in with no identifation, breonna's partner fire hi gun thinking it was home invasion. bam. down went breonna. something's up, though, RT.com had a piece up that all o the federal buildings...let me go find it...hang on.

Louisville police declare EMERGENCY ahead of Breonna Taylor announcement
21 Sep, 2020, RT.com

Police in Louisville, Kentucky have declared a state of emergency and two federal buildings have temporarily shuttered ahead of the state attorney general’s announcement in the Breonna Taylor case, anticipating possible riots.

The emergency announcement was issued on Monday afternoon by interim Louisville Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Schroeder, citing the need for “appropriate level of staffing to provide for public safety services.” In practice this translates into all leave and vacation requests being placed on hold.

The US district courthouse in Louisville and the nearby US Citizenship and Immigration Services field office were also shuttered on Monday for the rest of the week, per orders from a federal judge.

Both federal and local authorities seem to be preparing for the impending announcement by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron in the case of Breonna Taylor, an emergency medical technician killed in March.

Taylor, 26, was fatally shot by police attempting to conduct a “no-knock” drug warrant, after her boyfriend opened fire on officers, believing them to be intruders. Black Lives Matter and other protesters have been calling for the arrests and indictments of the three officers involved.

One of the officers was fired in June for “extreme indifference to the value of human life” and violating department procedures. Last week, Louisville agreed to pay Taylor’s family a $12 million settlement and implement a series of police reforms. The city has already outlawed no-knock warrants as well.

Protesters have denounced the settlement as the “bare minimum” and insisted that only indictments will provide true justice.

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usefewersyllables's picture

@wendy davis

2004. How time flies when you’re getting killed by the authorities...

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Twice bitten, permanently shy.

wendy davis's picture

@usefewersyllables

it out, but sadly, i'd never heard his name, may he rest in power...

'2004: DPD officers respond to a domestic violence complaint on 43-year-old Vincent Martinez, who escapes out of a window. Upon entering through a different second-story window, officers encounter 63-year-old Frank Lobato, who is ill in bed. Startled, a police officer shoots Lobato and claims to believe that Lobato held a gun, which turns out to be a soda can. The officer who killed Lobato is suspended for 90 days, and Lobato’s family receives a $900,000 settlement with the city.'

suspend with pay, i'll assume?

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Lily O Lady's picture

now adult Aspie I find this situation frightening. When he was a teenager my son made a suicidal comment to his psychiatrist while in session. The psychiatrist told me that he had to be hospitalized and that if I didn’t take him myself then he, the psychiatrist, would have to call the cops. I determined that the police were a danger to my son and worked very hard to convince him to let me take him to the hospital.

In my opinion, considering the way cops are, the mom was over sharing with her information. She told the police that her son had said he would shoot someone. She did not say whether or not there were lethal firearms in the household.

Personally, I would have tried to drug something the kid ate or drank with Benadryl. Once he was really sleepy it could have been possible to get him into the car and to the hospital. I’ve been through two hospitalizations with my son without cops.

Police can even be difficult in a non-emotional situation. My f-I-l found that he couldn’t move one day. We needed an ambulance to take him to the hospital for a diagnosis. It turned out to be a B-12 deficiency. But the police had to ask questions and puzzle over why my f-I-l needed the hospital. It was an awkward process since I was trying to diagnose him and very incorrectly guessed a stroke. All my f-I-l could say was that he couldn’t move. The police were apparently looking for something very suspicious. I would rather have dealt directly with the paramedics.

We’ve gone way down the rabbit hole to crazy town. The police are one of the scarier symptoms.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

wendy davis's picture

@Lily O Lady

original coverage of wsws's narrative, i'd asked if this was what you'd meant, but now i see i'd misconstrued what you'd offered. or i may have. but to say the truth, i agree that at least the police version [by way of video??] of what she'd said when she called them was manifestly different than this she'd said in most interviews:

I said, he's unarmed, he doesn't have anything, he just gets mad and he starts yelling and screaming. He's a kid he's trying to get attention, he doesn't know how to regulate.

She said she was to stay while the two officers went through the front door of the home in the area of 500 S. Navajo Street in the Glendale neighborhood. She said in less than five minutes, she heard "get down on the ground" and several gunshots were heard.

She thought her son was dead and the officers didn't immediately say if he was or was not dead. They handcuffed him, according to Barton.

[this is quite telling, although there were several officers]:

Additionally, she said she heard from someone that the other officer 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?"

i'd dug one out this one that included mum and her elder son speaking as well.

i sure like your benadryl idea, and am so glad your hospitalizations of your son included no cops.

we have a relative with a 13-yr-old son with autism spectrum disorder who's been running away from home repeatedly. they sic the police on him send him to a psych, he's out, back in...so far as we know he's still alive but 'in the system'. but this hit home as you might imagine.
we both wish we had even close to the wherewithal to give him a home. but being old, infirm, and broke...not a chance, dagnabbit. i figure he's running away from home for some good reason.

thanks, lily o lady.

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Lily O Lady's picture

@wendy davis

which in police-speak comes out as “Blah blah blah “shoot” blah blah blah.” Exactly what she said and what they heard are likely poles apart.

My husband ha often told me I over share. I’ve tried to become more circumspect. It can help avoid misunderstanding.

I’m sorry to hear about your relative. It’s just as hard being that kid as it is to deal with him, I’ll bet.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

wendy davis's picture

@Lily O Lady

my friend. all we can do now is pray for him, even by way of apatheism (smile), and i smudge him with sweetgrass smoke (along with a bit of a list of others) while chanting parts of the beauty way ceremony, that concludes: Walk in Beauty. i will offer that i smudge some of 'declared enemies' as well, may it soothe and heal them..in time.

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wendy davis's picture

@Lily O Lady

did i manage to muck this up. i'd meant in agreement w/ you that mum had shared too much to quote:

‘Linden’s mother, Golda Barton, called the police to help him to hospital to receive mental health treatment;

‘His mother, Golda Barton, had warned police that her son said earlier that day on September 4, that he had a gun and had threatened to shoot her male coworker and break windows in the house, the video showed. [video of a police call?]

But she told officers she thought it was a BB gun or pellet gun. There were no indications he was armed.’ [?]

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Lily O Lady's picture

@wendy davis

“shoot” which I assume meant get out your guns to them. The rest is tragedy.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

TheOtherMaven's picture

@Lily O Lady

of what she actually said, which is SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for police cover-up.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

wendy davis's picture

@TheOtherMaven

and apparently her 911 call is on a video? but some link i'd found, then lost due to my crap mouse ha contained hyperlinks to 3 more videos.

nonetheless, miles niemuth at wsws.org adds more context, including video context, including this:

The four officers then discussed how they would approach and apprehend Cameron. One officer questioned why they would be entering the home of a boy suffering a “psych problem.” She suggested they call their sergeant “and tell him the situation. Because I’m not about to get in a shooting because [Cameron’s] upset.”

A second officer, who shot the boy a short time later, presciently remarked, “Yeah, especially when he hates cops, it’s going to end in a shooting.

Despite these apparent misgivings, the group of officers proceeded to approach the home to confront Cameron under the assumption he was armed, despite Barton’s assurances to the contrary. Having spotted the police, the boy took off running down an alley behind his home and the police pursued on foot.

As the officers caught up to Cameron, one of them screamed at him several times, ordering him to get on the ground, before opening fire in rapid succession. A second officer can be heard asking Cameron to pull his hands out of his pockets just as the first officer opens fire.

if i can make the time, i'll try to see if SLCPD may have its own youtube channel.

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vtcc73's picture

It's very common for autism spectrum disorder people to have an extreme sensitivity to loud noises, chaos, and essentially anything that has the potential to overload their senses. My adult son with Aspergers still has the infant startle reflex. He's less sensitive to noise, shouting,, and lots going on around him but as a child he would shut down or go into a near panic in those conditions. The standard "training" police get to control a situation is like tossing 130 octane gasoline on a fire with people suffering these disorders. I bet these guys hadn't a fucking clue what they were stepping into. They were set up by their superiors and those above them.

I learned a technique I called "cow face" when J was agitated and nearly out of control. Flat affect, be very still, be very, very calm, and STFU. Above all else - STFU. If he was too worked up it often helped to gently restrain him with a gentle hug although that can be hazardous because it activates a touch sense that can overwhelm them further.

"Cow face" works with teenagers spectacularly too (most people actually). When you do speak you only speak very softly, clearly, and slowly showing no emotion or more movement than is necessary. With teens, only ask questions that can't be answered with a yes or no and wait giving plenty of cow face. Wait as long as it takes for an answer. They can't not say something and will give themselves away quickly. Don't react. Keep doing the same thing. If you don't know exactly what to say then don't say anything. You will fuck it up. WILL. Teens, especially, know that they have your ass if they can get you talking. It's a damn hard technique to do at first but, once learned, it's positively evil how effective it is with most people.

I didn't watch the video. I didn't need or want to. I've read the book, seen the movie, had the experiences, and don't need the fucking T-shirt. I know how this tragedy went except for the details. I'll go so far as saying it's criminal the way police are not trained to de-escalate and deal with people as human beings first. I don't necessarily blame individual officers as much as I do the law and order culture and the authoritarian assholes who lead us. The way police are trained is guaranteed to produce these events.

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"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now..."

wendy davis's picture

@vtcc73

explanation of 'cow face'. i will say our relative's son is very affected by noise, and was even advised to wear ear muffs in school. as he'd aged, i'm sure that he wasn't comfortable with doing so.

as to your final paragraph, i think it has merit as far as it goes, but many become police just to be authoritarians, by my reckoning.

this quote by officer ruff kinda inadvertently explains WTF crisis intervention teams are doing with bullets in the first place:

“We’re very comfortable with the program we used and with the individuals who are teaching it,” Ruff said in an interview with the Associated Press following the shooting. While declining to state what steps or decisions might have led the police to unload multiple rounds into a child, Ruff reiterated, “there’s more than one way to be CIT trained.

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Lily O Lady's picture

@vtcc73

with rabid Trump supporters. Seriously! We need a whole lot more calm in the world, for Aspies and everyone else.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

wendy davis's picture

as our days start at about 5. actually, i got more than 4 hrs of sleep last night, woooot!

i will say that we give thanks every night for all we have, most especially this oasis between the mountains and the desert, oxygen rich with all the trees and shrubs we've planted over the decades. birds and four-leggeds love it here, as well, including fox (tree-climbing grey0 and red), mule deer, black bear (the marauders!), coyotes barking and screaming outside at night (no they don't actually howl), pocket gophers, skunks, coonies (can walk face-first down a tree trunk) and some i've likely forgotten.

...for our adopted first american daughter and black/azteca son, we also give thanks.

sleep well, dream well if you can.

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I didn't want to, because I have an autistic child. He's, as they say, "high functioning," but this kid's "I don't feel good" after he's been shot really resonated with me (not in a good way). These kids literally don't know/understand what they're doing or why others are reacting the way they do. He probably has/had no clue what had just happened, and it's even odds as to whether he even understands really why he doesn't feel good, or how being shot can have that affect.

I live in constant anxiety that my kid will run afoul of our demented police forces, just like this one did. There was absolutely no reason for them to shoot at him. None. I hope they get some pretty damn harsh treatment from the "justice" system--but I'm not gonna hold my breath waiting.

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wendy davis's picture

@BayAreaLefty

such constant dread. my stomach roiled again reading this, and its likelihood:

He probably has/had no clue what had just happened, and it's even odds as to whether he even understands really why he doesn't feel good, or how being shot can have that affect.

seriously, given 11 shots, it's hard to believe he's still alive. wish i could lighten your constant anguish, BA Lefty.

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wendy davis's picture

"julian assange was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism, while detained in the Belmarsh high-security prison in London. This likely increases Assange’s risk of suicide if confined in restrictive prison conditions in the United States, according to a psychiatrist who testified at his extradition trial.

Dr. Quinton Deeley, who works for the National Health Service (NHS), conducted an Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) test on Assange and produced a report. He interviewed Assange for six hours in July.

Assange told Deeley he feared he would be held in isolation in a U.S. prison. He was afraid of the fresh indictment. He was also concerned about the fate of Joshua Schulte, who was held in harsh confinement conditions prior to his trial for allegedly disclosing the “Vault 7” materials to WikiLeaks. (Schulte’s case resulted in a mistrial in March.)

via kevin gosztola who's covering his final extradition hearing at the old bailey.

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