Renewed calls for action on mental health after police shoot and kill Fort Lee woman

Victoria Lee's family says she was unarmed when police fatally shot her July 28 during a mental health episode. (Sophie Nieto-Munoz | New Jersey Monitor)

The police killing of a 26-year-old Korean American woman has led to new calls for a better approach to how authorities respond when people are suffering from mental health issues.

Friends of Victoria Lee and activists in the Asian American community gathered Thursday in front of a Fort Lee community center to urge officials to release body camera footage of Lee’s death.

“This investigation needs to be swift and transparent. No games played. No tricks,” said Amber Reed, co-executive director of AAPI Montclair. “They deserve at least that from this state that has failed them so terribly.”

Lee died in the early morning hours of July 28 after her family called 911 to report she was holding a knife and needed to go to the hospital because she was suffering from a mental health crisis, according to the Attorney General’s Office . After the family attempted to prevent responding officers from entering their apartment, cops forced their way in, Lee approached officers in a hallway, and Officer Tony Pickens Jr. fired a single shot to her chest, killing her, authorities said.

The Attorney General’s Office is investigating the shooting, as it does with all fatal police-involved shootings.

Lee’s family maintains she was not holding a knife when she was shot, as authorities claim, but a five-gallon water jug.

Henry Cho, attorney for the family, said the body cam footage will be released after the family sees it, which he expects to be Friday. He also said the family intends to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the police officer and Fort Lee, but they are still processing the incident.

“They are still very upset, agitated, and crying so much,” Cho said. “We just want to pray for them. That’s all we can do right now.”

The family’s supporters urged Fort Lee officials to opt into the state’s Arrive Together program, which pairs police officers with mental health experts when responding to some emergency calls. Currently, more than 200 departments participate in the program, including seven in Bergen County.

Others called for authorities to overhaul how they respond to mental health crisis calls. They argued police shouldn’t be involved at all, and that social workers or mental health experts should respond instead.

Yannick Wood of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice called Lee’s death the “latest example of New Jersey police using deadly force when compassion and clinical treatment was necessary.” Wood cited the deaths of Najee Seabrooks in Paterson and Andrew Washington in Jersey City, who were both experiencing mental health crises when officers fatally shot them.

Wood urged officials to fully implement the Seabrooks-Washington Community-Led Response Act . That law, signed by the governor in January, created a new state advisory council aimed at determining best practices to handle emergency responses. But the 13-member council has not met, despite the law mandating the council meet within 45 days of the bill signing, according to northjersey.com .

Family members across the state are scared to call 911 for help out of fear of how police will respond, said Zellie Thomas, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Paterson. Non-police responses mean mental health crises will not turn into tragedies, he said.

“When you call 911 for help, you should get help and not bullets,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you are armed or unarmed.”

Tara Oliver, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office, which oversees Arrive Together, said more than 50% of New Jersey residents live in the 219 municipalities served by the program, and ultimately the state would like it available for every resident. The current state budget allocates $20.1 million intended to fund an expansion of the program, Oliver said.

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