Trigger Happy Cops: Mentally Unstable Indian American Man Fatally Shot by Police in Texas

An Indian American man was shot and killed by police in San Antonio, Texas, after he struck two officers with his vehicle on April 21. Sachin Kumar Sahoo, 42, hit a woman with his car and tried to back into officers with the same car hours later. 

Police went to Sahoo’s house after witnesses told them that a man in a white BMW SUV came out of a nearby driveway, onto the sidewalk and hit a 51-year-old woman before taking off. When they tried to arrest him, Sahoo attempted to leave, putting his SUV into reverse, backing it into two officers. That’s when one of the officers fatally shot him. 

His wife Leah Goldstein told CBS affiliate KENS5 that her husband was “mentally unstable.” She described him as a “peaceful and loving man,” and a “great dad, who provided for us.”

Describing the events of the day her husband was killed, she said Sahoo “disappeared for a while,” after striking the woman. He then called Goldstein. He sounded scared, she said. When the police came to the apartment she told them about Sahoo’s “history with mental illness and he didn’t have guns.” She said her husband “wasn’t normally a violent individual.” The police should’ve taken Sahoo to the hospital, but instead they shot him, she said. 

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Goldstein told KENS5 that Sahoo was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and “suffered the past ten years with bipolar disorder.” He also had “symptoms of schizophrenia,” she said, adding that “he’d get into manic episodes and wouldn’t continue taking his medication.” But he “couldn’t understand what was wrong with him,” and “would hear voices and hallucinate.” She said she’s “sorry” that he couldn’t fulfill “all of his dreams and passions,” because of his illness.”