TDoR 2016 / 2016 / February / 04 / Kayden Clarke


Kayden Clarke

Age 24

4 Feb 2016
Mesa, Arizona (USA)
Shot

TDoR list ref: tgeu/4-Feb-2016/Kayden Clarke

Kayden Clarke
Kayden Clarke [photo: www.slate.com]

Kayden died in hospital after being shot by police officers while suffering a mental health crisis. They had came to his home following a suicide call.

Two Mesa police officers who shot and killed a 24-year-old woman with Asperger syndrome have been placed on administrative leave while officials investigate, it was announced this afternoon.

“We don’t know at this point why they made the decision to go lethal,” police spokesman Esteban Flores told reporters.

Three officers went to [deadname] Jacob's home Thursday after a friend alerted police that [he] was suicidal. When they entered [his] apartment near 80th Street and Brown Road, Jacobs came out of the back bedroom holding a kitchen knife with an eight-inch blade.

One officer returned to the police car to get a beanbag gun, hoping to avoid using lethal force, while the other two attempted to “de-escalate the situation,” he said. When Jacobs lunged toward officers, both fired their guns. Flores declined to say how many times [he] was shot.

Jacobs posted a popular online video last year attempting to raise awareness about the difficulties of living with Asperger syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism. In the video, which was viewed more than 2.4 million times, Jacobs’ sobbed and struck [himself] while [his] Rottweiler tried to comfort her. The dog, named Samson, used his paws to block [him] from hitting [himself].

Jacobs adopted Samson from Halo Animal Rescue in Phoenix in 2011 and trained him to assist [him].

"When I have a meltdown, I often have self-injurious behavior and I often self-harm," [he] told the Huffington Post after the video went viral.

In December, Kayden had posted a video in which he announced that his insurance would pay for his reassignment surgery. "I'm so happy," he said.

TvT project: Huffington Post & The Advocate, 06.02.2016

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/mesa-police-kill-woman-during-asperger-meltdown-8033376

https://web.archive.org/web/20210802022903/https://planettransgender.com/trans-man-with-aspergers-shot-dead-by-police-media-misgenders-deadnames/

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/mesa/2016/05/06/police-reports-detail-shooting-death-mesa-transgender-man-frequent-police-calls/83986000/

https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2016/2/06/arizona-trans-man-shot-and-killed-police-his-own-home

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/woman-with-aspergers-syndrome-who-shared-viral-dog-video-shot-dead-by-police-in-arizona-a6855901.html

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/02/06/police_kill_kayden_clarke_a_transgender_man_with_asperger_s_who_was_suicidal.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/woman-asperger-shot-dead-police-article-1.2520902

https://people.com/crime/transgender-man-kayden-clarke-killed-by-police-in-arizona/

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kayden-clarke-shot-killed-police_us_56b61661e4b04f9b57d9d07e

https://www.azfamily.com/story/31141618/woman-dies-after-officer-involved-shooting-in-mesa/

Report added: 18 Sep 2018. Last updated: 8 Oct 2022

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