Oklahoma Gulf War Veteran Called Crisis Line Before Being Shot By Police

Latest police shooting victim had called Veterans Crisis Hotline
Tulsa World
By SAMANTHA VICENT
World Staff Writer
November 7, 2014

"Boyd’s wife, Peggy, said he spent several years in the U.S. Army around the time of the Persian Gulf War, and that he was a Cobra helicopter crew chief and also worked in intelligence afterward."

Nathan Boyd: The Persian Gulf War veteran had been diagnosed with PTSD and other maladies before his confrontation with police.

Between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nathan Boyd called a Veterans Crisis Hotline and told a dispatcher that he had weapons and wanted to commit suicide by forcing law enforcement officers to shoot him.

Boyd’s call went to a New York call center, and soon afterward Tulsa police began searching for the 46-year-old U.S. Army veteran. At around 9:15 p.m., crisis and patrol officers finally tracked his pickup truck to a QuikTrip convenience store at 21st Street and 129th East Avenue.

About 10 minutes later, Officer Demita Kinard said, Boyd exited the pickup with a weapon in hand that was later identified as a pellet gun. That’s when 19-year police department veteran Gregory Douglass fired once, striking Boyd in the neck.

Kinard said Wednesday that Boyd is expected to survive, but other officers say his goal — to goad police into killing him — is far from uncommon in the Tulsa area, and more and more veterans are reporting having suicidal thoughts, depression or another mental illness.

Tulsa police officers recently spent a year learning about the mental health needs of veterans, many of whom are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and they learned the importance of building a rapport with people who say they want to harm themselves, Lewis said.
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