In this diary I will be talking about the death of Kevin Desir. He was 43 years old. He died inside Broward jail in 2021. He was arrested twice. He was first arrested in January for destroying a neighbors car. Then again, in mid January for possession of marijuana. Desir had permission to use marijuana. Although it wasn’t ruled through before his arrest. Kevin Desir had reasons for destroying property. With mental illness you tend to have episodes. Those episodes can include arguing with loved ones, drug usage, destroying things, etc. There is no excuse for it, but it should be known. “Obviously, he’s dealt with mental illness for 21-22 years…” (Shepard) He was a father, a husband, worked full time, and was an entrepreneur. He fought with his mental illness really hard. In the facility, Desir cut himself. Cutting is a form of self harm. Self harm is common with those with mental illness. A deputy put him in a restraint chair. He became unresponsive and CPR was done. He was rushed to the hospital. He died 10 days later. Let’s be honest, police know nothing about mental health. They panic, they do not know how to comfort one with mental illness. This is why we need mental health professionals to work in the field as well. This case is systemic injustice because the police broke a law. They violated a federal court agreement. BSO jail is supposed to protect those with mental illness. The scary thing is that the police didn’t want this case shared to the public. They knew they did something wrong. This is police brutality. I hope those with similar stories like Kevin don’t have to go through this. The system needs change.
This diary entry is probably my favorite one I did research on. Police brutality is horrible. It is sad that police are so racist that they hurt others with a different skin color with no remorse. This diary entry stood out even more to me because it deals with more than one issue. Police brutality, mental health, publicity failure, etc. Police are not meant to help the mentally ill. They do not know how to comfort, talk to a person who is harming themselves. In most situations they make the matters worse. I deal with mental health myself and so does my family and friends. It is tough. We need a system to go on board with the police to team together to help those that are mentally ill. If we had a system like this, Desir may still be alive.
Source: https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/family-of-man-who-died-after-altercation-with-broward-jail-staff-wants-answers/2372059/
Thank you for sharing the share of Kevin Desir, as I was unaware of his injustice. Creating the conversation of mental health is so important needs to be more prominent within society. Police brutality is a great use of discussing systemic injustices and it is clearly demonstrated through her. I think the discussion of intersectionality could be applied here to show the difference in actions based on race and mental state. I appreciate your openness and sharing your difficulties also!
Great job on your presentation. I learned a lot and you made some very strong points. I like that you took the stance of stating that mental health professionals need to be put in the field to help. I agree with that statement and believe it should be employed. If police don’t know anything about mental health aspects and are even going as far to try and hide the case, there needs to be changes implemented. Police brutality is unfortunately something that has been going on for a while and is still happening. Your article highlighting this point as well shows many problems within the system. Many suffers from mental health as well, so thank you for not being afraid to speak about your own struggles you face as well.
Hello!
Thank you for writing this wonderful Diary on the injustice of Kevin Desir. This is a story I have not heard and I am glad I decided to respond to your Diary today! Like the students above mentioned mental health is often times looked at as “taboo” or “not a real issue” when in reality it is very real and effects almost everyone. I also want to point out the intersectionality we can see within this story in regards to not only mental health but a man struggling with mental health. Our society has labeled and categorized men to be strong, masculine, tough and dominate when the truth is a man or anyone should not feel that they have to fit into a structured societal mold. Men are allowed to cry and show emotion and struggle with mental health and I think it is important that we start making our society a safer place for that. So that stories like Kevin Desir’s don’t repeat themselves.