John,

On Sunday, June 2, I attended a Koreatown community rally seeking justice for Yong Yang, a young man tragically killed by the LAPD within seconds of law enforcement arriving at his home.

Yong Yang was experiencing a mental health crisis, and his parents called the county’s Department of Mental Health for help. Little did they know that this would result in LAPD shooting and killing their son less than 10 seconds after officers opened the door.

Yes, you read that right – less than 10 seconds.

Hearing Yong Yang’s mother, Myung Sook Yang, tearfully recount this story was equally painful and enraging.  

She took the right action—seeking help from mental health professionals—but the Department of Mental Health clinician on the scene that day took less than two minutes to decide to call the LAPD.

That means The Department of Mental Health and LAPD, both sworn to protect citizens, gave less than 120 seconds of consideration to the decision that led to the tragic death of Yong Yang.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions here, but what remains clear is this:

Instead of receiving the care he needed, Yong Yang’s life was cut short by law enforcement, who acted rashly and with unnecessary force.

The LAPD could have easily closed the door or resorted to less lethal means.

Both the Department of Mental Health and LAPD had protocols and procedures to follow, but all signs point to those protocols being thrown out the window that day.

We must seek immediate justice for Yong Yang and his family.

The County Department of Mental Health and LAPD must respond immediately and cooperate with the family’s discovery requests for all related information and bodycam footage.

We must know the exact protocols and procedures the County Department of Mental Health and LAPD officers were supposed to follow on the day Yong Yang was killed. We need to determine if they followed these protocols, what protocols were available but not used, and what factors influenced their decision to involve law enforcement.

This tragedy exemplifies everything that is wrong with how we approach mental health in Los Angeles and why law enforcement should never be the response to mental health crises.

(Read more about David’s reflections on the Justice for Yong Yang Rally in his column for The Korea Daily)

According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, at least one in four fatal encounters with law enforcement involves an individual with serious mental illness.

And yet tragedies like that of Yong Yang are becoming more commonplace in our district and our city.  

Enough is enough.

We must take immediate and decisive action at the local and federal levels.

Locally, we need to expand programs like Los Angeles’ CIRCLE and SMART, which provide unarmed responses to mental health crises.

These programs have shown that community-based crisis response can de-escalate situations, prevent violence, reduce arrests, and lower costs.

We must demand these are the standard responses to mental health emergencies.

Federally, We can support legislation like the Restoring Hope for Mental Health and Well-Being Act, which established the 988 crisis hotline to reduce police interactions with individuals in crisis.

Expanding programs like Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) nationwide can provide centralized crisis care, including mobile crisis teams, to ensure those in mental health emergencies receive appropriate care.

Today, I want to close with a message of action and hope.

Although this is a great tragedy, we must use this moment to ensure that injustice is not ignored but remedied.

I urge our community to support every action related to seeking justice for Yong Yang.

We must engage with our LA City Council members, County Board of Supervisors, State Assembly members, and State Senators to reshape our mental health care system.

Let’s hold our local leaders accountable and demand a comprehensive approach to mental health crisis response.

Together, we can demand the changes needed so that no other family must suffer the same fate.

Let's stand united in the fight for justice and a humane, effective mental health crisis response system.

#JusticeforYongYang

It’s time for us,

David Kim