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Can Nashville Respond to Mental Health Emergencies Without Police?


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Twice now in less than two months, calls to the Metro Nashville Police Department about a person experiencing a mental health crisis have led to officers shooting the person in crisis. 
On March 12, 33-year-old Melissa Wooden called 911 and made comments to dispatchers about harming herself specifically, she said she hoped police would come and shoot her to death. Three Madison precinct officers responded to the 2800 block of Greer Road in the Goodlettsville area, where they found Wooden, a white woman, standing near the road with a pickax and a baseball bat. Footage from a body camera worn by Officer Ben Williams shows him arriving on the scene as another officer is shouting at Wooden to “Step away from my car!” Williams begins engaging with her more calmly, and as she makes repeated comments urging the officers to kill her, Williams tells her that’s not going to happen.  ....

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