This picture supplied by Ana L Vazquez, reveals Victor Perez in a hospital mattress in Pocatello, Idaho.
Ana L Vazquez/AP
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Ana L Vazquez/AP
BOISE — An autistic, nonverbal teenage boy who was shot repeatedly by Idaho police from the opposite aspect of a series hyperlink fence whereas he was holding a knife died Saturday after being faraway from life help, his household stated.
Victor Perez, 17, who additionally had cerebral palsy, had been in a coma for the reason that April 5 taking pictures, and exams Friday confirmed that he had no mind exercise, his aunt, Ana Vazquez, instructed The Related Press. He had undergone a number of surgical procedures, with medical doctors eradicating 9 bullets and amputating his leg.
Police within the southwest Idaho metropolis of Pocatello responded to a 911 name reporting that an apparently intoxicated man with a knife was chasing somebody in a yard. It turned out to be Perez, who was not intoxicated however walked with a staggered gait resulting from his disabilities, Vazquez stated. His members of the family had been making an attempt to get the massive kitchen knife away from him.
Video taken by a neighbor confirmed that Perez was mendacity within the yard after falling over when 4 officers arrived and rushed to the fence on the fringe of the yard. They instantly ordered Perez to drop the knife, however as a substitute he stood and commenced stumbling towards them.
Officers opened hearth inside about 12 seconds of getting out of their patrol automobiles and made no obvious effort to de-escalate the state of affairs.
The taking pictures outraged Perez’s household and Pocatello residents, and a vigil had been deliberate for Saturday morning exterior the Pocatello hospital the place he was handled.
“Everyone was making an attempt to inform the police, no, no,” Vazquez stated. “These 4 officers did not care. They did not ask what was occurring, what was the state of affairs.”
“How’s he going to leap the fence when he can barely stroll?” she stated.
The officers, whose names haven’t been launched, had been positioned on administrative go away.
Selections about whether or not expenses must be filed in opposition to them will probably be made after an impartial investigation by the Japanese Idaho Crucial Incident Workforce, Bannock County Prosecutor Ian Johnson instructed the AP by way of e mail.
“When that investigation is full a report will probably be submitted for assessment,” he stated. “In a continued effort to make sure impartial and goal consideration, stated report will probably be reviewed by an company exterior of Bannock County.”
Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad stated in an announcement Friday, after the household introduced that Perez had no mind exercise, that officers’ ideas and prayers had been with them.
“We acknowledge the ache and grief this incident has prompted in our group,” Blad stated.
Blad stated Thursday that town was “addressing this matter with the seriousness and thoroughness it deserves and with the suitable respect for the gravity of the state of affairs.”
“The legal, exterior, and inner investigations relating to the officer-involved taking pictures are underway, which is why we can’t reply questions out of concern of interfering with or compromising the investigation,” he stated.
