April 2025
There are no words to express the deep sadness, anger, frustration, and fear following the tragic death of Victor Perez, a 17 year old with autism and cerebral palsy, who was shot and killed by law enforcement officers in Pocatello, Idaho on April 5, 2025. Our deepest sympathies and condolences go out to the Perez family as they have suffered the unimaginable loss of a child, sibling, and loved one.
This tragedy has left us to question WHY…why was the life of another person with a disability cut short, another family devastated, and another community shattered because an interaction with law enforcement went horribly wrong? Why was Victor Perez shot 9 times in under 20 seconds despite being clearly physically unbalanced and on the other side of a chain link fence from the officers? Why are law enforcement interactions so frequently dangerous for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities?
The investigation is still on-going, however the few details that are public demonstrate, at the very least, a gross failure by the officers to reasonably assess the situation and an alarming willingness to escalate an encounter to use of deadly force in less than one minute. Inadequate training and an overly aggressive command and control response, combined with a zeal for escalation is a dangerous combination especially for people with disabilities – visible or invisible – because they need more time than people without disabilities to process and respond to a command or direction from law enforcement.
It is a fear of every family that has a loved one with a disability that they will be at-risk for harm if they have an encounter with law enforcement. It is clearly not an unfounded fear as it is well-documented that people with IDD are 7 to 10 times more likely to have an encounter with law enforcement that people without disabilities and an even higher risk of the encounter escalating to use of force. The need to improve interactions with law enforcement and people with IDD is of such grave concern that that in 2017 the International Association of Police Chiefs (IAPC) published a Model Policy detailing critical steps law enforcement agencies need to take to improve these interactions and make them safer for people with IDD. The risk of harm to people with disabilities is so severe that in 2023 the U.S. Department of Justice commemorated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by highlighting efforts to address the criminalization of people with disabilities.
We understand that law enforcement responses are situational and sometimes split second decisions are made but for people with disabilities those split second decisions are deadly far too often. People want answers when there are tragedies like this – preventable deaths of our loved ones with disabilities – we want to know how we can prevent this from happening again, and again, and again. Some experts and advocates argue that this is a training issue and that if the officers were adequately trained tragedies like this could be prevented. Other experts and advocates believe that no matter how much training law enforcement officer have they should not be called to respond to situations involving people with disabilities because the command and control approach to policing inherently limits safe interactions for people with disabilities.
Unfortunately, there is no one solution or answer to this crisis but rather a need for a multipronged approach to keeping our loved ones safe during interactions with law enforcement. We cannot stop training law enforcement officers because it is not reasonable, or foreseeable, that people with disabilities will never come into contact with law enforcement officers. There are so many circumstances that arise where our loved ones with disabilities will interact with law enforcement… when they are hurt, missing, or scared the first call is to law enforcement, a well-meaning community member or neighbor might call for help when a person is experiencing behavioral crisis, etc., so having high expectations for meaningful and on-going training should still be part of the solution.
High quality and meaningful training should be extended to 911 dispatcher as well. The California Peace Officers Standards and Training (P.O.S.T.) Commission recently updated their Public Safety Dispatcher Basic Course to include in-depth training for dispatchers so they now ask callers if they are aware of any disability, mental or behavioral health issues that officers should be aware of.
Law enforcement officers need to be held to a higher standard as fundamental to their oath is the duty to “protect and serve” which includes people with disabilities. Without exception, all officers need to be held accountable for conduct that falls below both the practice and ethical standards of the profession.
Finally, there needs to be significant investments made in non-law enforcement resources for people experiencing behavioral health issues such as mobile crisis teams and behavioral health teams so we can reduce reliance law enforcement. Law enforcement interactions that result in death and serious bodily injury for people with disabilities continues to be a national crisis that warrants development of a national plan to address the safety of our loved ones. We need a plan supported by data, research, and best practices to facilitate safe interactions for our loved ones with disabilities so families no longer have to ask WHY or feel the pain of missing their loved ones.
Again, on behalf of the CA Policy Center for IDD, we extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the Perez Family. We are so very sorry for your loss.
