The American Psychiatric Association (APA, American Psychiatric Association) officially discussed the death of Yong Yang (age 40 at the time), who was fatally shot by an LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) officer, during its annual conference held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Korean American psychiatrists called on the APA to send an official protest to authorities regarding the Yang case and to establish a dedicated investigation body for police shootings involving mental health patients.
The Korean American Psychiatric Association of Southern California (President: Man Chul Cho) participated in the APA annual conference on May 20. During the conference, which was attended by over 12,000 psychiatrists nationwide, topics included depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and ADHD. The Korean American psychiatrists presented on both the Yong Yang shooting and the Victoria Lee case that occurred in Fort Lee, New Jersey, in July last year.
Four Korean American psychiatrists – Man Chul Cho, Richard Ha, Austina Cho, and Andrew Lee – presented that Yong Yang, who had sought hospital transfer assistance for mental health issues, died due to improper police response.
They pointed out that during the incident, police:
▶ lacked understanding of mental illness,
▶ failed to calm Yang and instead provoked him further,
▶ used lethal rather than non-lethal weapons against a patient with mental illness, and
▶ clearly erred by leaving the patient unattended at the scene.
The Korean American Psychiatric Association said 25–30% of people killed by police are mental health patients. They urged the APA to push for better police training and safety measures to prevent similar tragedies.
President Man Chul Cho stated, “All 100 psychiatrists attending our presentation agreed the police response in Yong Yang’s case was wrong. Since our presentation was officially adopted at the APA conference, we asked the APA to formally protest to authorities.”
They emphasized that after the Yang shooting, mental health patients and their families have become afraid to seek police help, stressing that the APA must actively issue a public statement and take a strong stance on the matter.
The association also proposed creating a specialized team of psychiatrists to investigate police shooting deaths, adding mental illness-related shooting warnings to police guidelines, including such cases in psychiatry textbooks, and strengthening patient rights protection efforts.
President Cho said Korean American mental health professionals felt a strong responsibility to report the Yang case, which occurred in Koreatown, LA, to the APA.
Meanwhile, on July 2, the Los Angeles County Superior Court held its first hearing on the lawsuit filed by Yang’s family against the LAPD. The hearing addressed the release of personnel records for Officer Andres Lopez, who fatally shot Yang, and Sergeant Araceli Rubalcava, who was present at the scene. The next hearing is scheduled for August 8.
BY HYOUNGJAE KIM [kim.ian@koreadaily.com]
