BY MELISSA GRACE and ALISON GENDARDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Saturday, November 17th 2007, 4:00 AM
The family of the unarmed, mentally ill teen shot dead by police in Brooklyn this week called Friday for the NYPD to change how it responds to emotionally disturbed people.
"Can we solve these problems for those who are mentally ill, distraught and angry?" said Reginald Owens, the stepfather of 18-year-old Khiel Coppin, who was fatally shot last Monday.
Coppin was killed after he claimed to have a gun, drew what appeared to be a weapon from underneath his shirt and lunged at cops, despite their repeated orders to stop, police said.
The object in Coppin's hand turned out to be a hairbrush.
"Khiel's life should not be in vain," Owens said Friday.
The family's lawyer Paul Wooten said Coppin had barricaded himself in a back bedroom of the family's Bedford-Stuyvesant home for nearly 20 minutes before he crawled out a window and confronted cops.
While in the apartment, he flashed knives and screamed at cops, claiming he had a gun. The lawyer said the officers should have known he was mentally ill and should have handled the confrontation differently.
Coppin, who had spent time in a psychiatric ward at Kings County Hospital, had stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication, his relatives said.
His mother, Denise Owens, called cops only after she could not get emergency psychiatric care for her son. A crisis team from Interfaith Medical Center came to the Gates Ave. home about 6:30 p.m. Monday. But the team left because the teen wasn't home.
He returned minutes later and was shot dead within the hour.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said the shooting appears to be justified because the cops who fired at Coppin believed he was armed and their lives were in danger.
mgrace@nydailynews.com
COMMENTS TO THIS STORY!
panarig Nov 17, 2007 5:54:15 PM Sure, blame the police again.....it is so convenient for the black community....they can't help themselves so when something goes wrong, it is the fault of the cops. Hey black people- when there are drug dealers hanging out on your corner, call Al Sharpton and see what he says- he'll tell you to call the cops.
"Can we solve these problems for those who are mentally ill, distraught and angry?" said Reginald Owens, the stepfather of 18-year-old Khiel Coppin, who was fatally shot last Monday.
Coppin was killed after he claimed to have a gun, drew what appeared to be a weapon from underneath his shirt and lunged at cops, despite their repeated orders to stop, police said.
The object in Coppin's hand turned out to be a hairbrush.
"Khiel's life should not be in vain," Owens said Friday.
The family's lawyer Paul Wooten said Coppin had barricaded himself in a back bedroom of the family's Bedford-Stuyvesant home for nearly 20 minutes before he crawled out a window and confronted cops.
While in the apartment, he flashed knives and screamed at cops, claiming he had a gun. The lawyer said the officers should have known he was mentally ill and should have handled the confrontation differently.
Coppin, who had spent time in a psychiatric ward at Kings County Hospital, had stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication, his relatives said.
His mother, Denise Owens, called cops only after she could not get emergency psychiatric care for her son. A crisis team from Interfaith Medical Center came to the Gates Ave. home about 6:30 p.m. Monday. But the team left because the teen wasn't home.
He returned minutes later and was shot dead within the hour.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said the shooting appears to be justified because the cops who fired at Coppin believed he was armed and their lives were in danger.
mgrace@nydailynews.com
COMMENTS TO THIS STORY!
panarig Nov 17, 2007 5:54:15 PM Sure, blame the police again.....it is so convenient for the black community....they can't help themselves so when something goes wrong, it is the fault of the cops. Hey black people- when there are drug dealers hanging out on your corner, call Al Sharpton and see what he says- he'll tell you to call the cops.
cgbudde Nov 17, 2007 6:34:33 PM Now this really ****** me off. The teens mother is the one who called the police, stating her son had a gun and was threatning her and others, now she is blaming the police. I knew this was going to happen once I saw Sharpton's comments in the paper the other day when he was demanding one of the officers be fired and all because he was in a band called EDP. Next we are going to see the wrongful death lawsuit with big Al leading the way. And he knows the city will settle just to get rid of it. And if that happens the people of NY should stand up and make their voices heard, if not then do not complain because you get what you deserve.
ITguy90 Nov 18, 2007 6:44:47 AM By all news accounts the police on scene acted accordingly and within the NYPD's guidelines. Yes it is a tragic event but stop trying to blame the police for everything. Sometimes blame can be put on the face that you see in the mirror!!!
ThatGuy Nov 22, 2007 1:42:10 AM As usual there are a bunch of insensitive *** SUBHUMAN people posting their ignorant comments. The fact that a YOUNG MAN'S life was lost seems to have escaped you. I am so VERY VERY thankful that I am not with out empathy. I have a soul and I care that a life was taken needlessly. When you people's time comes...... I wonder what it's going to be like for YOU who have NO SOUL! ThatGuy Nov 22, 2007 1:46:52 AM (CONT) But then again.... Devils are incapable of any sort of sympathy or empathy. You people have alot to learn... and a short time to learn it in.
iralarry Nov 24, 2007 1:19:17 PM The level of racist hatred here is appalling. Some of you are the most unenlightened, bitter, jealous fools I have ever had the misfortune and displeasure to read from. One ignoramous who was printed in the AMNY Letters section today even had the temerity to suggest that all black men carry guns and that is why he was shoot, because of a preconception by police that he must have been armed. I can not believe I am a member of the same species as some of you. Such vituperations and disgust for fellow human beings is so representative of Nazi thinking that I woud suggest none of you who express such obloguy ever be allowed out into the light of day. There is so much knee-**** reaction to this most recent police shooting of yet another unarmed citizen. It is obvious that the protocols for handling this type of occurrence are inept and faulty on premise. It seems that the first priority is to kill rather than disarm or deescalate. That basic reality serves to further the notion that life o
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