NOAH’s Response to the Officer-Involved Fatal Shooting of Landon Eastep
Webinar on Community-led Behavior Health Crisis Teams
(Register at https://bit.ly/cahoots-noah)
The Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) of NOAH (Nashville Organized for Action & Hope) finds the fatal shooting of Landon Eastep Thursday, January 27, 2022, deeply disturbing. Viewing the video footage, there appears to have been no coordination of who was in charge of resolving the crisis Mr. Eastep presented on I-65. Mr. Eastep displayed a box-cutter and apparently refused to talk with either highway patrol officers or an off-duty Mt. Juliet police officer who happened onto the scene. However, no mental health professional was called to NOAH’s knowledge to assist. The minimal time spent (30 minutes) trying to reason with a man obviously emotionally distressed was insufficient and led to a tragic result.
More could have and should have been done while protecting the law enforcement officers on the scene. Certainly, Mr. Eastep could have been disarmed through means other than nine armed police officers shooting him dead. The current mental health and crisis intervention training received by the officers involved did not save Mr. Eastep’s life.
We encourage a full investigation by the Community Oversight Board and expect complete cooperation by the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Metropolitan Police Department.
How to better address incidents involving persons in mental health crisis will be the focus of an educational webinar sponsored by NOAH and the Behavioral Health Foundation on Thursday, February 3, 2022 at 6:30 pm. This webinar will allow Nashville to learn about CAHOOTS – a 30-year-old program in Eugene, Oregon which has successfully handled mental health crises without law enforcement . The webinar will be available on ZOOM, and it will be LIVE on NOAH’s FACEBOOK Page): https://bit.ly/cahoots-noah
Join David Plazas, Tennessean Opinion and Engagement Editor and a member of CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets), a mobile crisis intervention program. CAHOOTS’ Mental Health Crisis Staff will discuss how their history of assisting people in mental health crisis is possible without the presence of law enforcement. Learn about HEALS (Health Engagement & Liaison Services), NOAH’s proposal for Nashville to the success of CAHOOTS. Let’s treat people in mental health crisis, not kill them.