Shooting at UF

By: Vernon Meigs

Posted: 3/19/10

On March 2, 35-year-old Ghanese University of Florida student Kofi Adu-Brempong was shot in the face by a campus police officer in his apartment. Adu-Brempong had been showing signs of delusion, and around the time of the shooting, his condition had worsened.

The officers who responded were trained in keeping the mentally ill out of jail and harm, but one of the officers ended up shooting Adu-Brempong. Only weeks later did the president of UF, Bernie Machen, issue a statement expressing concern for the victim, his family, and his neighbors, which raised questions as to why no statement was issued immediately after the event.

Abu-Brempong's condition seems to be improving. Sandspur reporter Peter Travis' article on the subject last issue mentioned as well that it was the "first time a student has been shot by campus police in 25 years."
If the officers were indeed trained in handling a person with possible mental illness, was the situation indeed so uncontrollable that a law-abiding man like Abu-Brempong had to be very nearly killed? The police are meant to protect citizens from harm and violations of their rights. A campus police officer should not have a different outlook on the prevention of harm among the students within their particular college or university.
Understandably, this can lead to the conviction held by many that Abu-Brempong was a victim of police brutality. It has also been argued that the Baker Act was abused as a form of leeway for punishment rather than a level-headed maneuver.

The Baker Act, also known as the Florida Mental Health Act, was enacted in 1971 and allows for non-voluntary examination by judges, law enforcement, and psychiatric professionals of the person in question as to whether or not they are indeed mentally ill or a danger to themselves or others.

Perhaps the issue of the president of UF being late in addressing the unfortunate events can be attributed to the very fact that it has been 25 years since a student was shot by a school's campus police.
They would indeed hesitate in light of breaking that record as a university, not to mention that the reasons for the shooting were, needless to say, embarrassing. I am curious as to how Mr. Abu-Brempong will respond after he fully recovers.