Justice for Darryl Mount

On August 31, 2013, Darryl Mount was pursued on foot by several officers in the Saratoga Springs Police Department into an alley and sustained injuries that led to his unjust and untimely death at just 22 years old. 

What followed were a series of lies by SSPD, and a failure to conduct an investigation into the events that led up to his death. The police allege that he fell from the 19-foot-tall scaffold while fleeing police, however Darryl’s family and the forensic pathologist they hired to review his case state that his injuries are inconsistent with that of a fall, and appear to be a result of physical beating due to the absence of injuries to his arms and hands. His family requested that there be an external investigation into the matter, but their request was ignored by the city. The former Police Chief Gregory Veitch, and then-Public Safety Commissioner Christian Mathiesen had claimed that the department’s internal investigation found no police misconduct. But they lied to the public, there was no such investigation. The only investigation made by SSPD was a criminal investigation against Darryl Mount about whether or not he should be criminally charged with attempted assault, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest for running from officers, even though he was left in a coma and paralyzed as a result.

Darryl Mount’s family and the Saratoga Springs community, who are deeply invested in the pursuit of truth, still have no answers from the police of what really happened that night in 2013. Although there is an entirely new City Council, the current Commissioner of Public Safety Jim Montagnino continues to be a hostile protector of the police department, claiming they have “owe no one an apology” even in the wake of an ongoing investigation into the department by the NYS AG’s Office for civil rights violations against BLM activists and organizers.

Like many before and after him, Darryl Mount is a victim of a cruel system driven by punishment that seeks to interrupt and end life before it has truly begun. Darryl Mount was supposed to live a long and joyous life, but that right was taken from him. For that reason, we must never forget him.