Trans Man With Asperger’s Syndrome Killed By Arizona Police

Police in Arizona knew they’d be dealing with someone who may not be in the right frame of mind when they arrived at the home of 24-year-old Kayden Clarke.

Clarke gained global fame when he posted a video to YouTube showing his dog, Samson, calming him down during an involuntary Asperger’s-induced meltdown.

Clarke and police had one previous interaction, Flores said – a call in which he complained about Internet harassment. When they arrived, police say Clarke approached them with a knife and they fired into his stomach.

Cynthia Macluskie, vice president of the Autism Society of Greater Phoenix, said the Mesa Police Department, as well as law enforcement across the Valley, need “significantly more training” on how to handle crisis situations involving people diagnosed with conditions such as autism and Asperger’s, an autism-spectrum disorder.

While the two officers – one with training in crisis intervention – talked to Clarke, a third went to his police vehicle to obtain a “less than lethal” device, such as a bean-bag shotgun, Flores said.

A screen capture from a December 14, 2015 YouTube video in which Kayden Clarke happily announces his insurance will pay for sex reassignment surgey. “And the police came into her own place”. She said Clarke’s death has sparked a lot of upset and emotion on the page over the past days.

In the video, Clarke explained frustrations after going from one mental health professional to another, and finding someone who could address both Clarke’s Asperger’s and gender therapy. Allowed in by friends, police reportedly encountered Clarke in a hallway brandishing a long kitchen knife: “The officers were in a small hallway that leads into the bedroom”, says Det. “It was so that they would hurt her. That I know positively”, Deede said, adding that Clarke was not physically violent.

“At this time we express our sympathies to Danielle’s family and her friend’s”, Flores said.

The police officers were not wearing body cameras, so we have no way of determining whether or not the officers’ perception of Clark’s behavior was accurate.