On Saturday, March 9th, 2024, Ryan Gainer, a fifteen-year-old Black boy with autism, was shot and killed by a San Bernardino police officer right in front of his family home in Apple Valley, Southern California.[i] Gainer’s family called 911 after he attacked his sister during a disagreement and broke a glass door.[ii] When the first deputy arrived at Gainer’s family residence, Gainer was holding what appeared to be a five-foot-long gardening tool with a sharp-bladed end.[iii] As Gainer ran towards the first deputy with the tool in his hand, three shots were fired at him.[iv] Gainer was taken to the hospital, where he died that same day.[v] Gainer’s death has once again fueled outrage and concern across the country—sparking a critical conversation about how law enforcement officials are responding to individuals with disabilities like autism, particularly to Black Americans who are already disproportionately killed by law enforcement.
For many families, contacting the police when a family member with a disability is going through a mental health crisis may seem like the best option. However, contacting the police during such situations can turn deadly, and when race and disability status mix, the chances of a deadly encounter with the police are even higher.[vi] The fatal shooting of Ryan Gainer is not the first of its kind; many lives have been lost at the hands of law enforcement lacking the proper training to handle situations like Gainer’s.
In 2021, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies shot and paralyzed Isaias Cervantes, a man who has autism and is almost entirely deaf.[vii] Cervantes’s family had called 911 asking for help after he had pushed his mother.[viii] In 2016, an officer with the North Miami Police Department shot at Arnaldo Rios-Soto, a man with autism, and his caretaker, Charles Kinsey.[ix] Kinsey was shot in the leg as he was trying to calm down Rios-Soto, who had run away from the facility where he resided and at which he required twenty-four-hour supervision.[x] The shooting of Kinsey sparked national outrage as another example of police brutality against an unarmed Black man. That same year, Pennsylvania police killed Osaze Osagie, a twenty-nine-year-old Black man with autism.[xi] Osagie’s father had contacted the police after receiving text messages from him that he was suicidal.[xii]
These tragic incidents encapsulate the deadly encounters between law enforcement and people with intellectual or developmental disabilities such as autism, and there are many more. It is clear that law enforcement across the country lack proper training as to how they should respond to such situations, and this issue must be addressed through state legislative changes. Currently, only eleven states have police training requirements on autism.[xiii] Although Florida is one of those states, the current statute only requires that training be made available to officers and count towards their forty-hour requirement for continued employment; thus, it is not required.[xiv]
The Memphis Model of Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) has been widely adopted around the country and throughout many counties in Florida. However, it remains an optional training in Florida, and it is left up to each agency around the state to mandate it.[xv] CIT is a law enforcement response program designed to train law enforcement to handle crisis calls. The Florida Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission (CJSTC) could require all police agencies in Florida to have their officers complete CIT training, however, they have not.[xvi]
In an attempt to require such training, Florida lawmakers recently proposed House Bill 829, which would have required officers to have at least four hours of in-person training on how to interact with an individual with autism.[xvii] This training would have included techniques for identifying signs of autism, de-escalation tactics, and procedures in missing persons cases involving someone with autism.[xviii] Although the Bill proposed only four hours of training, it would have been a step closer towards achieving safer encounters between law enforcement and individuals with autism. However, the Bill died in committee in March of this year.
The Bill was proposed to supplement the Protect Our Loved Ones Act, which went into effect on January 1st of this year.[xix] The Act authorizes local law enforcement agencies to maintain a database of people who may have certain developmental, psychological, or other disabilities or conditions, including but not limited to autism, Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia disorder, or Down Syndrome.[xx] The purpose of this database is to keep track of this information which may be relevant to interactions with law enforcement. The Act went into effect in response to restrictions to the Florida Baker Act, a law that focuses on crisis services for individuals with mental illnesses.[xxi] The Baker Act, however, does not allow people with autism to be involuntarily committed because autism is not a mental illness.
Although the Protect Our Loved Ones Act is helpful, legislation requiring proper training is crucial to prevent more tragedies from occurring at the hands of law enforcement. Individuals with autism are seven times more likely to have an encounter with law enforcement than individuals who are neurotypical.[xxii] This is likely due to signs of autism being behaviors that law enforcement is trained to view as “suspicious,” such as avoiding eye contact, pacing, or repeating words.[xxiii] It is also important to note that autism is not the only condition affecting police interactions. Mental illnesses, substance abuse, as well as intellectual, cognitive, and developmental disabilities make mental health crises more likely and can have a significant impact on the way people react to law enforcement.[xxiv]
Family members should not have to think twice about calling for help when a loved one is having a mental health crisis. They should not have to worry about a loved one coming into contact with law enforcement—the people who are supposed to keep them safe. Florida lawmakers and lawmakers all over the country must make it a priority to enact legislation that will ensure law enforcement agencies all over the state require their officers to be properly trained to handle crisis calls involving people with autism, as well as other disabilities and mental illnesses. Only by enacting such legislation will lives like Ryan Gainer’s be spared.
[i] See Jamiles Lartey, When Police Encounters with Autistic People Turn Fatal, Marshall Project (Mar. 16, 2024), https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/03/16/california-police-autism-disability.
[ii] See id.
[iii] See Cindy Von Quednow, Bodycam Video Shows Fatal Shooting of Teen with Autism, CNN, https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/14/us/ryan-gainer-shooting-san-bernardino-county-deputies/index.html (last updated Mar. 14, 2024, 12:38 PM).
[iv] See id.
[v] See Lartey, supra note i.
[vi] See Lartey, supra note i.
[vii] See Sam Levin, ‘A Talented, Goofy Kid’: Family of Ryan Gainer, Autistic Teen Killed by Police, Speak Out, Guardian (Mar. 21, 2024, 7:26 PM), https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/21/ryan-gainer-autistic-teen-police-killing-california.
[viii] See id.
[ix] See id.
[x] See id.
[xi] See id.
[xii] See id.
[xiii] See Lartey, supra note i.
[xiv] See Lartey, supra note i.
[xv] See Sam Smink, Should Florida Law Enforcement Officers be Required to Take Crisis Intervention Training?, WPTV, https://www.wptv.com/news/local-news/investigations/should-florida-law-enforcement-officers-be-required-to-take-crisis-intervention-training- (last updated Nov. 20, 2017, 3:45 PM).
[xvi] See id.
[xvii] See H.R. 829, 2024 Leg., Reg. Sess. (Fla. 2024).
[xviii] See id.
[xix] See Cristóbal Reyes, Can Police Avoid Hurting Autistic Individuals? Central Florida Cops Learn how, Columbian (Dec. 24, 2023, 3:40 PM), https://www.columbian.com/news/2023/dec/24/can-police-avoid-hurting-autistic-individuals-central-florida-cops-learn-how/.
[xx] See Fla. Stat. § 402.88 (2023).
[xxi] See id.
[xxii] See Fla. Stat. § 394.463 (2023).
[xxiii] See Lartey, supra note i.
[xxiv] See Lartey, supra note i.
