Saheed Vassell
- New York 04/03/2019 by Linda Perry (WBAI News)


Parents of Saheed Vassell, Eric and Lorna Vassell Photo: WBAI
It's the one year anniversary of the police shooting of a 35 year old Black man with bi-polar disorder. Saheed Vassell was killed in a hail of bullets when NYPD plainclothes and Strategic Command Response team officers responded to 911 calls of a distraught man on the streets of Crown Heights.

What community members say they saw that day differs from the police narrative, a narrative the Vassell family and advocates looking for justice say was disregarded. Eric Vassell, Saheed Vassell's dad says he's very disappointed that the officers involved in his son's death are still on the force and in NYS Attorney General Letisha James who failed to seek indictments and prosecutions of the officers. NYC Councilmember Brad Landers says what we have now is a depressing dysfunctional approach to mental illness.

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