'He Called For Help': Crown Heights Marches For Man Shot By NYPD

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — If you ask his friends and family, Eudes Pierre was a lot of things to Crown Heights even before he made headlines last month.

The 26-year-old, who was shot by police just before Christmas, was a college student, a basketball star, a music artist, a poet and a "master marketer" helping local businesses or party promoters.

He was a brother, a cousin, a friend and the kind of son who took odd jobs — even delivering Uber Eats on foot until he could afford a bike — with the hope of one day retiring his mom.

And though it was a part of his life, Pierre's bipolar disorder diagnosis that came at age 24 was hardly the first thing that comes to mind about him, family said.

"Eudes Pierre was love," his cousin Sheina Banatte told a crowd at a vigil Thursday. "Eudes Pierre was full of life and talent, but Eudes Pierre was suffering."

On Thursday, family marched the mile from the Eastern Parkway block where Pierre was shot by police to the 71st Precinct with a message: just as it didn't in his life, his mental illness should not have defined his death.

The "Light the Night March" marked exactly one month since police fired ten shots at Pierre, who had led officers on a chase while holding a pink knife, according to police.

The NYPD later deemed the shooting a "suicide by cop," saying Pierre had called 911 on himself and left a suicide note at his family's home before the incident.

But family have pushed back on the narrative, arguing that mental health experts should have been at the scene to help Pierre. They have since banded together to push for a "Eudes Pierre law," which would require a behavior specialist at every police call and train police to use non-lethal techniques when responding to such calls.

"Just like if they were dealing with someone on the Brooklyn Bridge or any other bridge who wanted to commit suicide, they call negotiation teams, and those negotiation teams talk to individuals to get them not to commit suicide," said Reverend Kevin McCall, founder of the Crisis Action Center. "We need those...mental health specialists, those behavior specialists, that can come when you call 911 for help. That's what he did on that day — he called for help."

McCall and the family pointed Thursday to a pilot program the city recently experimented with in Harlem precincts that removed police from mental health calls, saying the initiative should be made citywide.

Council Member Crystal Hudson, who joined the family at Thursday's vigil, told the crowd she will work to expand the program.

Pierre's family are among many who have urged a new approach to responding to New Yorkers in mental health emergencies, particulary in the past year. Across the city, 25 New Yorkers have been killed by police during mental health emergencies since 2007, according to advocacy group Correct Crisis Intervention Today.

"Everyone knows someone who could benefit from a law like this," Banatte said.

Banatte is one of several of Pierre's cousins who have created a#TeamEudes website and petition, which has gained 14,000 signatures online. Among their hopes is to have the Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue block where he was shot named "Eudes Way."

"He lived there, he went to church there, he went to the public library there, he took the train there, all until he was tragically taken from us, so he even died there," Banatte said. "...Justice for Eudes is never allowing another Eudes Pierre's life cut short or with disregard because they are suffering from mental illness."