Family members of man shot and killed by deputy demand better mental health training

SEATTLE — Family members of a Spanaway man shot and killed by deputies last month marched through heavy rain in Seattle Saturday to call for more mental health training for officers.

Twenty-eight-year-old Billy Langfitt’s dad says his son would still be alive today if law enforcement had the proper tools, and calls what happened a tragedy that could’ve been avoided.

“Mental health is not a crime!” chanted Langfitt’s father, William (Bill) Langfitt, with the crowd.

Langfitt said his son was going through a mental-health crisis. Billy was running through the streets in Spanaway last month when his girlfriend called 911 for help.

“A police officer arrived and assessed the situation, and my son was dead seconds later,” Langfitt said.

Billy was not armed, but based on the 911 call deputies believed he had a knife. During the call, his girlfriend Naomi Powers initially said “I have a mentally ill friend that needs some assistance.”

Eventually, she said Billy had a knife, and at points during the call, she screamed “stop it!” repeatedly, and “leave me alone!”

She later told dispatchers that she got the knife away from Billy and had it in her pocket, and she did not need medical aid, but that “He definitely does. He needs psychiatric help.”

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Office said deputies did not know Billy was no longer armed when they arrived on the scene.

Billy was running on top of people’s cars, and ended up jumping into the driver's seat of a patrol car. That's when a deputy shot and killed him.

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“It’s the hardest thing I've ever had to watch,” Powers said on stage at Westlake Park, tearing up.

“I had love for that man as my brother, as my family,” said Paul Rodriguez, one of Billy’s best friends.

It has his loved ones demanding change, so people can call 911 in mental health situations without having to fear it might lead to something like what happened to Billy.

“They do a lot of good in our communities, our law enforcement officers, and we are absolutely appreciative of their efforts. But they don't have all the tools all the time. They need to  have some better tools, they need to have better training, and they need to have a non-lethal response to these type of crises situations,” Langfitt said.

State Senator Manka Dhingra (45th Dist. – Redmond) who was also at the rally, agreed.

“What’s the best path to get that to happen?” KIRO7’s Deedee Sun asked Dhingra.

“I think definitely funding for the training is very important, and funding to make sure that law enforcement agencies can hire mental health professionals to be part of their team,” Dhingra said.

As people at the rally work towards that goal, they remembered Billy.

“Billy enjoyed life to the fullest, he had a great smile,” his dad said. “Billy was a hard worker, held himself to a high standard.”

“He had said the meaning of life was to learn. If you're not learning you're not living. I strongly believe in that here today,” Rodriguez said.

Cox Media Group