Police Brutality and Mental Health Crisis Situations

A Mental Health Emergency Should Not Become a Death Sentence

When families call for help during a mental health crisis, they expect compassion. They expect trained professionals who can de-escalate the situation and bring calm to chaos. What too many families receive instead is violence. Sirens pull up, officers rush in, and a loved one in distress suddenly faces shouts, handcuffs, or worse.

At Horn Wright, LLP, we’ve seen how quickly these moments turn tragic. People experiencing panic, psychosis, or depression don’t always respond to commands in the way officers expect. That doesn’t make them criminals. It makes them vulnerable. Yet time after time, the response is force, not understanding.

No parent should fear calling 911 when their child is in crisis. No family should weigh whether seeking help might cost a life. A mental health emergency should be met with care, never brutality.

How Force is Misused in Crisis Calls

Force during mental health calls is often unnecessary, but it happens with alarming frequency. Instead of slowing down, officers escalate. Commands turn into shouts. Hands-on contact turns into takedowns. In worst cases, weapons are drawn against people who posed no real threat.

The problem lies partly in perception. Officers sometimes misinterpret symptoms of illness, agitation, confusion, silence, as signs of resistance. Instead of recognizing these behaviors as medical, they frame them as defiance. And once force begins, it often spirals.

Federal law has weighed in on this dynamic. Courts applying the Fourth Amendment “reasonableness” standard under Graham v. Connor have specifically acknowledged that mental health should be factored into whether force is excessive. In New York, case law builds on that principle, recognizing that failing to adjust tactics in a crisis can itself be unlawful.

These calls don’t have to end in violence. They do because systems prioritize control over compassion.

New York’s Standards for Handling Mental Health Encounters

New York has taken steps to address the crisis-response gap. Under Mental Hygiene Law §9.41, officers are authorized to take individuals into custody if they appear mentally ill and pose a risk to themselves or others. But with that authority comes responsibility: the law requires that these encounters be handled with care and lead to evaluation, not punishment.

The state has also invested in Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training, designed to help officers recognize mental illness and use de-escalation techniques instead of force. Yet the reach of these programs is uneven. Not every department has full CIT coverage, and not every officer has the training they need.

Legal protections only matter if they’re followed. Families across New York still report instances where officers ignored training, defaulted to aggression, and left loved ones injured or worse. Standards on paper are one thing. Accountability in practice is another.

Documenting Excessive Force During Mental Health Responses

Proving brutality in these cases comes with unique challenges. Victims may not remember every detail due to their mental state at the time. Witnesses may be family members caught in the chaos. But documentation remains critical.

Evidence can include medical records showing injuries inconsistent with the officers’ reports, photos of bruises, or testimony from healthcare providers who treated the victim afterward. In New York, disclosure rules under CPLR Article 31 allow attorneys to request internal reports and body camera footage, which often paint a very different picture than official narratives.

It’s also important to highlight behavior before the incident. If a person had a known diagnosis or had communicated distress, those facts matter. They show officers should have recognized this was a medical emergency, not a crime. Documentation connects those dots, turning a chaotic moment into a clear story of misconduct.

Maine Law Provides Weaker Crisis Intervention Standards Than New York’s Requirements

Not all states treat mental health encounters with the same urgency. In Maine, crisis intervention standards are less developed, and officers often face fewer requirements for de-escalation training. That gap leaves people in crisis more vulnerable and families with fewer legal options afterward.

New York has pushed further. Programs like Daniel’s Law, currently under legislative review, aim to create non-police crisis response teams staffed by health professionals instead of officers. Even before such laws are fully in place, the state’s existing Mental Hygiene Law recognizes that people in crisis need care, not criminalization.

This difference matters in court. Victims in New York can point to clear standards that officers failed to meet. In Maine, the absence of those standards makes accountability harder to achieve.

Training Gaps That Lead to Tragedy

Training is supposed to be the bridge between law and practice. But in too many departments, that bridge is shaky or incomplete. Officers may get a few hours on mental health response during academy training, then little else for the rest of their careers.

The result? Situations where fear overrides judgment. Officers see a man pacing in traffic or a woman shouting incoherently and respond with the same tactics they’d use on a dangerous suspect. But someone in crisis isn’t a suspect, they’re a patient in need of help.

Federal lawsuits under 42 U.S.C. §1983 have held cities liable when failure to train leads to predictable harm. In New York, courts have echoed that standard, emphasizing that inadequate training on mental health encounters can make departments directly responsible. Training gaps aren’t accidents. They’re systemic choices, and they cost lives.

Remedies for Families After Mental Health-Linked Brutality

When police brutality collides with a mental health crisis, the harm is layered. There are physical injuries, yes, but also deep emotional wounds for families who sought help and instead found violence. The law offers several paths to remedies.

Civil lawsuits may seek compensation for medical costs, therapy, and long-term care. Families can also pursue damages for wrongful death in cases where force turned fatal. New York courts have recognized claims for emotional distress by family members who witnessed the brutality firsthand, expanding remedies beyond the direct victim.

Remedies also include systemic change. Litigation has forced departments to expand training, adopt stricter oversight, and in some cases, remove officers unfit for crisis response. These outcomes matter as much as damages because they aim to prevent the next tragedy. A lawsuit isn’t only about one family’s loss. It’s about making sure fewer families face the same nightmare.

Horn Wright, LLP, Advocates for Victims With Mental Health Conditions

Every person deserves dignity, especially in their most vulnerable moments. A mental health crisis should never be answered with fists, tasers, or bullets. At Horn Wright, LLP, we fight for victims whose conditions were ignored and whose rights were trampled in the name of “control.” Our civil rights attorneys know how to expose failures in training, challenge unlawful force, and demand remedies that speak to both individual pain and community reform. If your loved one was harmed during a crisis call, we’ll stand beside you and demand accountability.