Moments after whistle-blower and Democratic senatorial candidate Chelsea Manning tweeted a picture of himself standing on a ledge of a building, appearing to attempt suicide, police broke into his apartment wielding firearms to perform a “welfare check.”
Security footage obtained by the Intercept shows three officers entering his Bethesda apartment with weapons drawn after they unlocked the front door.
As Gateway Pundit reported, the transgender former Army intelligence analyst sent out a series of tweets on May 29 indicating he was contemplating suicide. Shortly after the suicide threat, a friend tweeted that Manning was “recovering and in the company of friends.”
** chelsea is recovering and in the company of friends. we thank everyone for their well-wishes and support.
if you or someone you know is in crisis, these orgs can help:
Trans Lifeline
USA: (877) 565-8860
Canada: (877) 330-6366The Trevor Project (LGBTQ*)
USA: (866) 488-7386— Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) May 30, 2018
Manning was reportedly out of the country when the police barraged his home.
The Montgomery County Police Department maintains the police conducted the check at Manning’s home after being notified by “concerned parties” who saw his tweets, following protocol with a person experiencing a mental health crisis.
“Once inside the residence they realized that the residence did not match the photo that was posted on Twitter,” he said. “We tried to determine where she may be by attempting to use her phone but the phone was powered off and they weren’t able to leave a message.”
The department’s “dedicated crisis intervention unit” responded to the address “to check [his] welfare,” Montgomery County Police Captain Paul Starks assured.
But Manning insists wellness checks are proof the United States is a “police state.”
“This is what a police state looks like,” Manning told the Intercept. “Guns drawn during a ‘wellness’ check.”
“This is what a police state looks like,” Chelsea Manning said. “Guns drawn during a ‘wellness’ check.” https://t.co/FWWBzR27BO pic.twitter.com/YWvVq6f7fQ
— The Intercept (@theintercept) June 5, 2018
“If Chelsea had been home when these cops arrived with guns drawn, she would be dead,” Manning’s friend, Janus Cassandra, argued. “There is absolutely no excuse for sending armed police to the home of someone who is having a suicidal episode.
Never trust the police, Cassandra warned.
“The moral of this story is don’t call the cops,” she said. “If you know someone who is having a mental health crisis, call a friend, a trusted neighbor, or someone close by who can safely intervene. Keep the number to a volunteer emergency medical service in your city or neighborhood that can be called directly without a police response. Mental health emergencies require friends and first responders, not gun-toting cops.”
“As we’ve seen countless times, cops know that no matter what happens, they will be shielded from any accountability whatsoever.”
The police drew their weapons because “they don’t know what kind of circumstances they are entering when they enter a home,” Captain Starks refuted.
“The fact that a weapon is drawn doesn’t mean that they are going to shoot it,” he said. “Do you know what was going on in that apartment that night? No. Not until you open the door and go in… We respond to hundreds of thousands of calls each year. Many of them are not what is phoned in.”
As an army intelligence officer, Private First Class Bradley (Chelsea) Manning leaked more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents to activist website WikiLeaks in 2010. He smuggled the security documents out on a CD labeled “Lady Gaga.” Manning was bitter after a breakup with his boyfriend and said his motivation was a desire to ignited debate about U.S. foreign policy.
In April 2014 a Kansas judge allowed Manning to change his name to “Chelsea.”
Manning, America’s most famous convicted leaker, filed to run for a Senate seat in the state of Maryland in January on a platform to eliminate national borders close prisons and free inmates, provide universal healthcare and basic income, according to his campaign website.
His top priority is to abolish the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which Manning insists is preparing for an “ethnic cleansing.”
imagine a world without borders 🤔🌈💕
— Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) August 18, 2017