Family and friends note 2-year anniversary of death
Blog note: this article references a recently released San Mateo County Grand Jury report. Scroll down.
Friends and supporters of the Serrano family released balloons at an event at Mac Dutra Plaza on Saturday during an event that marked the second anniversary of the death of Yanira Serrano.
Yanira was an 18-year-old Moonridge resident who was shot by a San Mateo County Sheriff’s deputy on June 3, 2014. Yanira, who suffered from schizophrenia, was reportedly acting in a violent manner on that day, and the Serrano family called 911 for help. She was dead within minutes of the deputy’s arrival.
Yanira’s brother, Tony Serrano, said his family held Saturday’s event to spread awareness about mental health issues and what his family views as police misconduct.
“This is not the time to be silent,” he said.
The event coincided with a new report from the San Mateo County civil grand jury that calls for greater emphasis on care rather than enforcement during calls such as that which led to the death of Yanira Serrano.
On Tuesday, the grand jury released a report noting that the county has a number of effective tools for dealing with the mentally ill, but that it doesn’t use them often enough. Teenagers in the midst of mental health challenges took more than 750 trips to area hospital emergency rooms in 2015, according to the report.
The grand jury argued that responding with “lights and sirens” tends to exacerbate these situations and suggested greater use of the county’s SMART car program, which was formerly known as the San Mateo County Mental Assessment and Referral Team. The grand jury found that the teams responded to only 28 percent of the mental health emergencies last year.
June 8, 2016
Half Moon Bay Review
From staff reports
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