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Speaker urges council to address police handling of people with mental illness after fatal encounter
Summary
A public commenter criticized Los Angeles police handling of mentally ill individuals and urged the council to act after a grandmother named Margaret was killed; the commenter said previous recommendations to the Christopher Commission were not heeded.
During public comment, John Culver urged the Los Angeles City Council to do more to protect people with mental illness and to reform police response. Culver recounted submitting a report to the Christopher Commission eight years earlier about police handling of mentally ill individuals and said that failures in policing and jail procedures contributed to the death of a woman identified as Margaret.
“Two young, fit police officers trained in hand‑to‑hand combat shoot and kill a grandmother who wields a screwdriver,” Culver said, calling the killing senseless and arguing the city must change how it treats mental illness. He urged the council to fund programs for mentally ill people and to change police and jail practices rather than relying on criminalization.
Culver’s remarks were delivered during the non‑agenda public comment period; the council did not take immediate formal action on his request during the meeting. The transcript records the emotional plea and a call for political will and funding to address services and police practices for people with mental illness.
