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Conversations around policing, mental health continue a month after death of Dante Kittrell

Leaders of different activist organizations held a joint town hall meeting about policing and mental health response in South Bend on Tuesday, Aug. 30
Gemma DiCarlo
/
WVPE News
Leaders of different activist organizations held a joint town hall meeting about policing and mental health response in South Bend on Tuesday, Aug. 30

Community conversations around policing and mental health are continuing in South Bend a month after the fatal police shooting of Dante Kittrell.

Kittrell was armed and in the midst of a mental health crisis when he was shot by South Bend Police officers last month. His death sparked outrage from activists and calls for a citywide mental health crisis response system to be put in place.

Currently, Oaklawn operates a pilot mental health crisis response team. The team began responding to calls this spring, but only operated from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

An investigation into the shooting conducted by the St. Joseph County and Mishawaka police departments concluded last week and determined that officers were justified in shooting Kittrell.

No criminal charges were filed, but at a town hall meeting held by activist groups Tuesday, Kittrell’s mother Marcia said she would continue to seek justice for her son.

“I’ll let you mess with my money. If I had a man, I’d let you mess with my man,” Kittrell said. “ But don’t mess with my children.”

The city of South Bend is set to hold its own community action group on crisis response procedures next week. But local NAACP President Trina Robinson said that setting isn’t conducive to enacting change.

“It’s very controlled,” she said. “You have a moderator, you sit at a table, you discuss what it is you want to discuss. Then the moderator gets up and reports back. That’s not a setting for the community to be heard — we’re asking to be heard.”

The city meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. next Tuesday, Sept. 6, at Brown Intermediate School.

Contact Gemma at gdicarlo@wvpe.org or follow her on Twitter at @gemma_dicarlo.

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Gemma DiCarlo came to Indiana by way of Athens, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Georgia in 2020 with a degree in Journalism and certificates in New Media and Sustainability. She has radio experience from her time as associate producer of Athens News Matters, the flagship public affairs program at WUGA-FM.