Facebook has lit up with comments on the video released showing the shooting of Roy Roberts by the Abbotsford Police Department (APD) for behaving like someone with a mental illness.
We have copied some of the comments from three Facebook pages (listed below). There are many more on news sites such CTV, CBC and Global as the coverage of the incident spreads and grow.
According to police, on Wednesday April 16, 2014, the APD responded to a 911 call about a man “brandishing a knife” and acting out behind the Abbotsford Foodbank. It turned out to be well-known Abbotsford citizen Roy Roberts, with whom the APD has had over 200 instances of involvement with over the last decade.
As the video demonstrates, Roy is, at first confused (perhaps because the officer his calling him John) and continues to ask why they are confronting him (with guns).
Roy is seen to get down on the ground, about 30 feet from the police and 8-10 feet away from his backpack from which police removed a knife after shooting him six times – three times with rubber bullets and three times with bean bags)
We have published a sampling on the response on Facebook below.
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Meg Coughlan Hernandez First, to be wielding a knife doesn’t a person need to be holding a frigging knife? Where was the knife? I didn’t see one. Second, he wasn’t acting aggressively nor was he threatening the officers. Why the rubber bullets? Did he even know they were rubber bullets or did this man fear for his life with each shot fired?
Couldn’t anyone try speaking with him? Or using his actual name?
This makes me sick. If anyone wonders where the term “pig” came from, I have no doubt that it was inspired by incidents such as these… no offense to any actual pigs. They are far more rational creatures than the officers in this video.
- Judith Hetherington What about to local MP to take before parliament ?
Yesterday at 2:13am · Edited · Like
Kenzie Skorepa Kirkeby Yeah that petition and it’s signatures should be sent to a higher authority. Because the mayor is the one perpetrating the harassment and unfair treatment of our homeless. He told the people to go dump chicken shit on the homeless camp and sally anne was in on it. Come the fuxk on. It makes me so angry.
Xtina Bernadette Housing is not a federal responsibility. You need to take it to local MLAs, provincial government level. But as Abbotsford recently turned down millions of dollars and a partial solution (low-barrier housing via BCHousing project), it may be difficult to get a sympathetic audience from local MLAs. But it’s a health and rights issue that they should not be ignoring.
Jay Mitchell This is what happens when “our mental health people don’t come to the scene, but rather link up with people after the fact” (paraphrasing what APD PIO said).
Cops shouldn’t be dealing with mentally ill people when they have perfectly able mental heal…See More
Walter Neufeld amen to that Jay. well said
Walter Neufeld Very disturbing. I don’t understand why 8-9 police couldn’t have used less hostile tactics and why they thought it was necessary to use rubber bullets against Roy while he was so distressed.
April 22 at 7:58pm · Like · 1
Tyler Smart Kids turned cops with no world skills or understanding of mental illness or anything other than mainstream mentality. Ie. Wimps. Beginning to understand the militarization of police forces across N. America. Hide the wimps behind numbers weapons and shields..
April 22 at 8:17pm · Like · 1
Walter Neufeld And so it is, shit.
April 22 at 8:41pm · Like · 1
Terry Stobbart So very distressing, disappointing and disturbing.
Missy Michelle Drysdale Shit is right! Poor guy! Thank God someone has a video!! This sickens me!!!
Mike Archer http://www.ipetitions.com/…/abbotsford-apd-stop-the…
Abbotsford & APD! STOP the Harassment & Brutalization of the Homeless!
I just visited www.ipetitions.com and signed an important petition. I really care about this cause and hope you’ll show your support for it.
Yesterday at 7:26am · Like · 2 · Remove Preview
Dan McGuire The cops showing a fine example of being the stuff that was dumped earlier this year….must have the real criminals shaking in their boots
Yesterday at 12:06am · Abbotsford
Having seen the video of the altercation between Roy Roberts and the APD I was disgusted and saddened. My own father dealt with homelessness, neurological issues and addiction problems. When will we as a city stop treating disenfranchised people as a nuisance to be dealt with instead of people who need help?
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Bas Stevens, Marlisa Power and 8 others like this.
Jay Mitchell People need to stop approving of police actions like this as being okay. Yes, this is how they should respond to a legitimate active threat– but the system should have provided Roy with some kind of health intervention long before an incident like this came up. If APD has 200+ interactions with him, it should be well documented that this man needs strong mental health assistance.
Rich people (the only people governments actually listen to) don’t give a shit about the mentally ill, so it’s hard to say when this unfortunate status quo will be changed.
Yesterday at 12:15am · Like · 4
Danika Neresa Holmes Truth^^
Jay Mitchell I don’t like to point fingers too often at the large contingent of people who put faith in the sky wizard who posthumously corrects all wrongs… but that’s also a factor in this town. I’m a large proponent of the tenets of the social gospel (essentially we should save physical lives now, and let God deal with the afterlife)
Yesterday at 12:31am · Like · 1
Richard Rehsler And one verse that they are always conveniently overlooking is the one that says `…. as you treat those who are among the least of My people so do you also treat Me.
Yesterday at 12:39am · Like · 5
Jesse Guidone Interesting how for the 30+ years that George Ferguson was Mayor of this city, never once do I recall seeing homeless being mistreated in such a way. Nor while Mary Reeves was mayor did we see this. People need to wake up and realize that Bruce Banman is a quite honestly a threat to the homeless in this city. I just hope people remember his actions come the next mayoral election.
Yesterday at 1:24am · Like · 3
Mike Archer http://www.ipetitions.com/…/abbotsford-apd-stop-the…
Abbotsford & APD! STOP the Harassment & Brutalization of the Homeless!
I just visited www.ipetitions.com and signed an important petition. I really care about this cause and hope you’ll show your support for it.
Yesterday at 7:26am · Like · 2 · Remove Preview
Dan McGuire Jesse, remember Bruce Banman stated publicly that there is something wrong with a country where we can’t lock people up for their own good….apparently shooting them is just fine
Jesse Guidone How do I get to a place where I can actually sign the petition? I click the link above which goes to an AbbotsfordToday article. Scroll to the bottom and there’s a sign the petition hyperlink. When I click that though, I just end up on the Facebook events directory page.
Mike Archer Sorry try this link: http://www.ipetitions.com/…/abbotsford-apd-stop-the…
Abbotsford & APD! STOP the Harassment & Brutalization of the Homeless!
I just visited www.ipetitions.com and signed an important petition. I really care about this cause and hope you’ll show your support for it.
Yesterday at 6:48am · Like · 1 · Remove Preview
Jesse Guidone That one worked. Thanks, Mike.
Kevin Francis O’Shea Hi Mike, great article for bringing this further to the forefront. I have lived in Abbotsford for over 20 years and find the treatment of our less fortunate appalling. I recall the City Manager stating “The Buck Stops Here” with him……. well, perha…See More
April 22 at 8:43pm · Like · 1
Daryl Martens The abbotsford police used non lethal force. A distraught man with a knife killed 5 people just last week in Calgary. And a year ago Toronto police killed a man on a bus who had a knife. I think the Abbotsford police did a good job under the circumstances.
Richard Rehsler Uh-huh. It’s the new pokice mantra -SHOOT FIRST AND ASK QUESTIONS LATER. It seems to me that a half dozen large officers could have subdued this man a lot less violently. I am not so certain that those supporting the new quasi-military police actions would react the same way if it they were on the receiving end of this type of behavior.
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These comments were gathered on Thursday, April 24,2014 at 11:00 am.