Crisis Response: Dante's Story

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- It’s been one year since the South Bend police shot and killed 51-year-old Dante Kittrell in the midst of a mental health crisis, waving what looked like a real gun outside an elementary school.

But after nearly an hour of trying to de-escalate the situation, a SWAT team arrived, and deadly shots rang out.

The death of Dante Kittrell renewed calls for professional mental health crisis response teams handling such calls instead of, or alongside, police.

This ABC57 special report, “Crisis Response: Dante’s Story,” shows a mother’s pain, a call for action and maybe the beginnings of real change. Police shootings leave officers traumatized, and in this case a family heartbroken and a community outraged.

ABC57’s Annie Kate sat down with Dante Kittrell's mother Marcia, and this is the story of the worst day of her life, through her own eyes.

"I want a crisis center. I want a mobile crisis unit to go to the places like that. I don't want another mother to go through this," she said. "I want social workers, I want clinicians, I want nurses. I want people that are there to take it over."