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Boy With Form of Autism Killed After Threatening Police With Knife
Police in Calumet City were defending their actions Wednesday after officers shot and killed a 15-year-old boy, who has a form of autism, after he threatened them with a knife.
Stephon Watts’ family said he suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome — a high-functioning form of autism — and attention deficit disorder.
According to the story at http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/02/01/boy-15-shot-dead-by-police-in-calumet-city/, some witnesses claimed the boy was only holding a butter knife. Police would only describe it as a “kitchen knife.”
Calumet City Police Chief Edward Gilmore said the boy cut a police officer through his shirt sleeve with a “kitchen knife.”
“I think they did everything they possibly could to avoid this,” Gilmore said. “It’s unfortunate that we had to get to this situation.”
The boy’s mother, Danelene Powell-Watts, was screaming, livid, and inconsolable after her son was killed. She was furious that officers used deadly force against her son this time rather than subduing him with a stun gun.
“They shot my son,” she yelled at officers as she was blocked from entering the Calumet City police station. “Every last one of you know my son has autism.”
Gilmore said police had been called to the home 10 times since 2010 to deal with the boy. Stephon’s father reportedly called police again Wednesday morning after the teen had become aggressive.
“We tried to do everything we could to keep him from being a victim, as he was an offender. He chose to be an offender,” Gilmore said.
The chief said police were called to the home to get Stephon under control, as they had been before. But that didn’t work, he said.
“When he slashed the officer’s arm, the officer felt his life was in jeopardy and he had nothing else to do, but to defend himself,” Gilmore said.
Stephon’s family said police have used a stun gun on him in the past.
“They didn’t have to murder him. This is nothing but murder and they shoot to kill,” Powell-Watts said. “He had a butter knife and … my husband said that he lunged at the police officer.”
Stephon’s uncle said police had subdued his nephew with stun guns before.
“They didn’t have to shoot him. They could have tasered the child. He’s only 15 years old,” Wayne Watts said. “They could have tased him, like they did him before, took him to the hospital and he would have been fine and that’s what I want to know. Why couldn’t they do that to him so that he could still be breathing with us right now?”
Gilmore said a stun gun wasn’t used because the lead officer did not have a stun gun.
Five officers responded to the Watts home after Stephon’s father called police, according to Gilmore. Two entered the house, heading to the basement where they found Stephon. One of those two officers did have a stun gun with him.
“Unfortunately today, when he slashed the officer’s arm, the officer felt his life was in jeopardy and he had nothing else to do, but defend himself,” Gilmore said.
The boy’s family said police should have used a stun gun and spared his life, especially since they’d been to the home before and knew what to expect.
Both officers have been placed on paid administrative leave.
Gilmore said a year ago, all of the officers in the department went through a three-day autism awareness program to learn how to handle calls involving people with autism.
Dr. Louis Kraus, professor and section chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Rush University Medical Center, questioned whether deadly force was really necessary.
“With everything that they’ve done before, they should have known before going in what they were dealing with. And, you know, the goal really should have been to have gotten this child to a hospital,” Kraus said.
He said people with autism can frequently become aggressive, but not because they are trying to hurt someone.
“What we know is that, when they get anxious – probably more commonly than the typical person when they get anxious – they might lash out; not with the intention of doing harm, but simply because of how frightened they are,” Kraus said.
Calumet City Alderman Brian Wilson had questions about the shooting as well. “I think less deadly means could have been used,” Wilson said.
Meanwhile, Illinois State Police are investigating the shooting.
For more on the latest knives, knife news, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where and much more, subscribe to BLADE® Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication. For subscription information click on http://www.shopblade.com/product/blade-magazine-one-year-subscripti…?r+ssfb020612BL1SU
Knife News Wire 1/18/18 – Is This Jim Bowie’s Brother’s Knife?
Is This Jim Bowie’s Brother’s Knife?
A few times a year, a knife with a supposed James Bowie connection pops up, usually leading historians to raise a collective eyebrow. It’s the Elvis, or sasquatch, sighting of the knife world.
The latest entry can be found in Waco, Texas, where a bowie knife donated to the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum bears the inscription, “R.P. Bowie to Capt. Wm. Y. Lacey,” per the Waco Tribune.
The “R.P.” could be the initials of Rezin Pleasant Bowie, older brother to James Bowie, who gave knives as gifts.
Here are pics the Waco Tribune posted to Twitter:
A significant artifact of early Texas now resides in #Waco — courtesy of James Bowie’s big brother. #bowieknife https://t.co/d2WhWLDV1k
— Waco Tribune-Herald (@wacotrib) January 11, 2018
It wouldn’t be unusual to find a forged Bowie knife inscription, but William Lacy seems like an unlikely choice. https://t.co/d2WhWLDV1k pic.twitter.com/8lzj24hSse
— Waco Tribune-Herald (@wacotrib) January 18, 2018
From the article:
Johnson said it would not be unusual to find a forged inscription on a Bowie knife, but it seems unlikely that a forger would have chosen William Lacy as the recipient.
“There’s only about half a dozen historians who have heard of William Lacy,” he said.
That the knife’s previous owner didn’t seek money from the museum is no indication of authenticity. Neither is the circumstantial evidence supporting its origins. The truth could split either way.
By default, BLADE takes a skeptical view with these sorts of claims, and this case is no different.
Mississippi Moves to Relax Knife Restrictions
Knife Rights reports that it’s working alongside legislators to move HB 924 forward in Mississippi. The bill, introduced by Rep. Gary Staples, would strike bowies, dirks, butcher knives and switchblades from statutes governing deadly weapons.
As an aside, it’s surprising that butcher knives would be restricted in, of all places, Mississippi.
Concealed Carry of Fixed Blades Proposed in Washington State
It’s not currently legal to carry a concealed blade longer than six inches in the state of Washington, but the could change. If signed into law, HB 2600 would decriminalize just that. Here’s more from Knife Rights.
This Knifemaker Learned from Autopsies
It doesn’t take much to imagine where Dr. Stephen Pustilnik, of Houston, developed an appreciation for knives. He performs autopsies for a living. It’s only natural that he’d try his hand at knifemaking, too.
From the Texarcana Gazette:
He is now working his way through a year-and-a-half-long waiting list of chefs, home cooks and pathologists willing to spend hundreds of dollars on knives that hold an edge and make clean work of anything from gnarly vegetables to sinewy flesh.
This line takes the cake:
Pustilnik, after spending years examining human bodies, speaks easily of the particular mechanics of the hands. He measures his customers’ palms and observes where the metacarpophalangeal joints—the hinges at the knuckles—rest on a knife handle.
You, too, can reach that level of expertise, if you put in enough corpse time.
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Protect People Traveling With Knives
The American Knife & Tool Institute (AKTI) reports that, in an effort to encourage consistent knife laws from state to state, the organization has been working with U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) to introduce U.S. Senate Bill S. 1955 last week (January 20th-24th.)
The bill, co-sponsored by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), is also known as the “Knife Owner’s Protection Act of 2014,” or KOPA, and will allow citizens to transport knives over state lines for lawful purposes, even when state or local restrictions would otherwise prohibit possession of that specific type of knife or length of blade. KOPA is modeled after the federal Firearms Owners’ Protection Act, which gives firearms owners the protection to pass through all jurisdictions with guns that are legal where they live.”
“As an outdoorsman and hunter, I know that knives are an essential tool for sport and various occupations. The right to carry a hunting knife or pocketknife while traveling should be protected, even if you pass through a city or state that isn’t knife friendly,” U.S. Senator Enzi said. “I’m proud to be working with the AKTI and their members on this bill, and I appreciate all their work on behalf of knife owners across America. With their help, we can put an end to the charges, fines and arrests that happen to people lawfully traveling across state lines for carrying what is legal in most parts of the country.”
See AKTI.org for links to AKTI’s position paper on the need for this legislation, as well as the full text of the S. 1955 bill.
Please Help Pass Knife Law Pre-emption for Georgia, the BLADE Show!
According to Knife Rights, the Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee has passed SB432, the Knife Law Preemption bill that would repeal all local knife ordinances more restrictive than state law—but your help is needed urgently to get the bill through the state’s Senate Rules Committee and a Senate floor vote.
Knife enthusiasts have only until close of business on Wednesday to get this bill through the Senate Rules Committee and a Senate floor vote. As Atlanta is home to the BLADE Show, successful passage of SB432 would not only ensure Georgia residents carrying a knife are treated fairly wherever they travel in Georgia, but all those traveling to the BLADE Show though towns and cities with knife laws more restrictive than Georgia’s otherwise decent knife laws would be safe from violation. (Author’s note: An Atlanta city ordinance makes it illegal to carry any automatic or any knife with a blade longer than 3 inches “readily available for use.”)
If you live, work or travel in Georgia, and this includes every BLADE Show exhibitor and attendee, please POLITELY contact the Chairman and Co-Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee and simply ask them to bring SB432 to a vote on the floor:
Chairman: Senator Don Balfour [email protected] (404) 656-0095
Co-Chairman: Senator Bill Hamrick [email protected] (404) 656-0036
SB432 is sponsored by Senator Bill Heath, who has worked hard getting it through to this point. Now it is important for ALL of US to help him get it through the Senate (and then on through the House).
Knife Law Preemption protects honest citizens from a patchwork of local ordinances and rules that can entrap those traveling within or through a state in possession of knives that conform to state law or wherever they live in the state. Without Knife Law Preemption, a person can be charged with a violation of law when they have no intention of violating the law.
The BLADE Show, held June 8-10 at the Cobb Galleria in Marietta, Georgia—which is basically a suburb of Atlanta—is the world’s largest knife show and pumps millions of dollars into the local and state economy. SB432 will protect the thousands of exhibitors and visitors who travel through Georgia to and from the BLADE Show to buy, sell or simply enjoy the thousands of knives on display and the many knife-related events associated with the BLADE Show.
E-MAIL Senators Balfour and Hamrick TODAY and/or call them.
For more information click on www.KnifeRights.org
For more on the latest knives, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where and much more, subscribe to BLADE Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication. For subscription information click on http://www.shopblade.com/product/blade-magazine-one-year-subscripti…?r+ssfb030512#BL1SU
Dellana’s First Goblin Folder in BLADE
Dellana shows you how she made her first goblin folder, read why Buster Warenski’s King Tut dagger changed knife history, school yourself on the hottest custom makers’ hottest knives and more in the latest issue of BLADE®—on newsstands NOW!
Dellana is known throughout the custom knife industry for her ornate high-end folders and learned a lot under the great ABS master smith Jim Schmidt. Schmidt was known in no small part for his goblin folder, a style Dellana had never tried until approached by collector Larry Marton to complete one Schmidt had planned to before Schmidt passed away. Dellana accepted the daunting assignment. In her two-part story she outlines the challenges she faced in making the goblin folder she christened “Gryzzlesnick,” which includes a stag handle with a butt shaped into the grotesque face of a goblin. Read part one this issue.
A member of the BLADE Magazine Cutlery Hall Of Fame and the top vote-getter in a poll of veteran industry observers for their “Mount Rushmore of Knifemakers” of the modern era—1960 through the May 2015 BLADE in which the applicable story appeared—Warenski spent five years (1982-87) making the reproduction of the gold dagger found in King Tutankhamen’s tomb. Phil Lobred commissioned Warenski to make the knife and liquidated his entire collection of handmade knives to pay for it. The knife featured 32 ounces of gold, the long-lost technique of granulation to embellish the knife’s handle and has been valued at being worth over $1 million. Get the full story on this landmark knife and the trials and tribulations of Warenski in its making in “A Piece of Buster’s Soul.”
Pinpointing the hottest custom knifemakers’ hottest knives is something all enthusiasts of the genre need to stay on top of, and BLADE helps you in the endeavor with the help of top industry observers in “Compound Your Cutlery Interest.”
There’s much more this issue, including:
•BLADE Managing Editor Erin Healy’s story on the period-correct knife-and-tomahawk combos by Don Shipman, “Edged Warrior Sets”;
•The best knives to take on summer vacation;
•Rick Barrett‘s custom folder based on and that salutes the legendary World War II Marine F4U Corsair fighter aircraft made famous by the equally legendary pilot Pappy Boyington of Baa-Baa Black Sheep fame;
•Tests/reviews of four of the latest factory utility fixed blades, four EDCs, three assisted openers and a pair of ample straight knives;
•The conclusion of Dexter Ewing’s three-part series on the latest knife sharpeners in “The Hone Zone.”
And much more, all in the latest BLADE, on newsstands now or subscribe to the print, digital, international or Canadian issues here.
Alaska Pro-Knife Bill Vote Today—Contact Now!
According to Knife Rights, the Alaska House will vote today on House Bill 33 which, if passed, would ensure one-hand and assisted-opening knives are not considered gravity or switchblade knives. If you live, work or travel in Alaska, please contact your representative(s) and ask them to vote in support of HB33.
Yesterday, Knife Rights Director of Legislative Affairs Todd Rathner testified at a hearing of the Alaska House Judiciary Committee on HB33 “Definitions of Gravity Knives and Switchblades,” referred to by primary sponsor Rep. Mark Neuman as the “Knife Rights Bill.” The bill also includes Knife Rights’ requested Knife Law Preemption. HB33 advanced out of committee without dissent and now goes to the full House for a vote.
House Speaker Mike Chenault and Rep. Max Gruenberg co-sponsored HB33. The bill is nearly identical to last year’s HB55, which was passed by the House but was not heard in the Senate. “With changes to the Senate after the 2012 election, we are anticipating better luck in affecting change in Alaska’s knife laws this time around,” Knife Rights reported.
Preemption ensures citizens can expect consistent enforcement of knife laws everywhere in a state. Preemption prevents the creation of or eliminates a patchwork of local ordinances and laws more restrictive than state law, which serves to confuse or entrap those traveling within or through the state.
When contacting the representative, all that is necessary is to simply ask him/her to vote in favor of HB33. Keep it short and to the point.
For more information visit www.kniferights.org.
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