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When out for my morning run this morning, I came across two policemen standing over a cuffed black man (a homeless man I& #39;ve seen many times in my neighborhood, usually hanging outside of the dollar store, joking with passers-by).
Before the more recent protests, I would have thought, "I hope he& #39;s okay," but kept running. This morning, I stopped and asked the man if he was okay and inquired with the officers what he was being arrested for.
The man was incredibly upset and ranting, but what I understood is that he was trying to get something to eat and an altercation had gone down at the Tim Horton& #39;s down the street (and someone had called the police on him).
He asked me if I& #39;d buy him something to eat and, since I have the Starbucks app on my phone, I asked him what he wanted there...he put in his order. But the police officer told me that they wouldn& #39;t let him eat it, so "don& #39;t bother."
I bought it anyway and went all Karen on the officer (you can direct your angry white lady in a better way, right? 
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😜" title="Winking face with tongue" aria-label="Emoji: Winking face with tongue">). Meanwhile, several more police cars arrived. I asked why they needed so many officers for a man in cuffs who hadn& #39;t even been arrested yet. No answer.
After a while, they let him eat the food I bought, so I went for my run, but cut it short so I could loop around and check. They were putting him into the paddy wagon peacefully. I saw that he had finished his food. Six officers were at the scene.
He obviously has mental health issues and was very agitated because he was hungry. Hell, I know how I get when I& #39;m HANGRY ( @carlospache_co will tell you that I get very unreasonable).
I& #39;m definitely not an expert, but I& #39;ve run by these scenes many times before and seen them escalate. A mental health professional would have been a MUCH better addition to that scene than more officers.
I don& #39;t know what went down between this man and the Tim Horton& #39;s employee (the Starbucks employee told me he spat at the TH employee), but de-escalating the situation should always be a priority.
Putting money into mental health could mean that a mental health professional would have been on the scene. This is why I& #39;m for #DefundThePolice (even in Canada, where it isn& #39;t much better, it& #39;s just hushed). #JUNETEENTH2020 https://abs.twimg.com/hashflags... draggable="false" alt=""> may not be our holiday, but we need change, too.
