Arfin,
A 17-year-old is fighting for his life in critical condition after police shot him nine times outside of his home in Idaho.
A neighbor said that police seemed like a "firing squad" as they opened fire on the child, who has autism and cerebral palsy, within 15 seconds of arriving on the scene.
Victor Perez, the victim of this abhorrent violence at the hands of police, was described by his family as nonverbal, barely able to walk, and having the cognitive ability of a 5-year-old.
Police were called by a neighbor who didn't know Victor — they saw him from across the street and read his body language as intoxication. Victor was also holding a knife, but according to Victor's aunt who was present, he was not threatening them, just refusing to give the knife back.
But when police arrived, they took no time to assess, understand, or deescalate. Exactly 12 seconds after arriving on the scene, running at Victor with weapons drawn, police opened fire at the disabled boy. Victor has had to have his leg amputated, and is now in a coma that his doctors aren't sure he'll ever wake up from.
Half of people killed by police in the United States have some form of a disability, such as Victor's cerebral palsy.
These officers are clearly unfit to serve and protect their community if they thought a child with autism and cerebral palsy holding a knife should be shot nearly a dozen times. They showed no signs of deescalating and explored zero nonlethal methods of getting the situation under control. This violent brutality from police is all too common in the United States, where particularly disabled people and people of color are targeted.
We cannot allow these officers to continue to serve as police and threaten the communities they are supposed to be protecting.
Sign the petition demanding all officers involved in the brutal attack on Victor Perez be fired and charged with attempted manslaughter!
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