Family of San Antonio woman shot by police during mental-health episode sues city

The four children of Melissa Perez — the 46-year-old woman shot and killed by a trio of San Antonio police officers last month during a mental health crisis — have sued the city and the officers involved. SAPD's "formal and informal" policies and the policymakers' past failures to hold cops accountable have created a culture in which officers "engage in excessive, unreasonable and unconstitutional use of force," according to the family's petition, filed in federal court in San Antonio. "SAPD has a culture that is rampant throughout the department such that uniformed officers regularly do not call on the mental health team to respond when a person is experiencing a mental health crisis," the plaintiffs maintain in the filing.