Communities provide emergency services to their residents in exchange for taxation and to affirm our humanity. Failures in our emergency system violate the law and our agreement with our community leaders.
On October 28, 2016, the North Royalton Police (NRPD) broke this agreement when they killed Jun Wang while serving a routine standard probate order. Numerous breaches of protocol led to Mr. Wang's death. Officer Jason Kimmel canceled his commander's ambulance call even before arriving at the home Mr. Wang shared with his caregiver and sister, Julia Rielinger. Officers Kimmel and Kip McDonald barged into the house ahead of Ms. Rielinger, and Officer McDonald ended up shooting Mr. Wang at close range after he was already subdued and in handcuffs.
Jun's murder was incorrectly determined to be in the line of duty. The officers responsible for his murder continue to be employed by the NRPD. This is a travesty of justice. These officers must be removed. Anything less is a violation of our community agreement. Anything less legitimizes this irresponsible and lethal misconduct. Anything less poses a security threat to our entire community.
There are many group homes in North Royalton, Ohio. These establishments are responsible for the health and safety of people who suffer varying degrees of mental illness. People suffering mental illness are especially vulnerable. They deserve respect and security in their homes and with any crisis intervention agents that they may encounter.
Our community leaders must ensure that first responders are specially trained and can demonstrate their ability to stabilize and de-escalate their interactions with them. The NRPD has failed to provide adequate crisis intervention and de-escalation training (CIT) and evaluation for its officers. At the time of the police murder of Mr. Wang and to this day, adequate CIT has remained neglected. Our community is at risk until adequate CIT is fully implemented for all police officers and other first responders. Our community is at risk until the City of North Royalton removes Officers MacDonald and Kimmel from duty.
Please submit your support by contacting us via www.junwangfoundation.org
