Voice of OC50%
Family of Autistic Man Killed by Irvine Police Question What Went Wrong in Fatal Encounter 54%
By Noah Biesiada54%
7/28/2026, 5:58:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 29 faulty reasoning types, including Anecdotal, Halo Effect, and Availability Heuristic, with Confirmation Bias as the most egregious example at 18.4% saturation with 219 hits. Analysis detected 1,767 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,188 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 46.8% and a BS Rank of 54% (11,821 of 25,289 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 53.30% of the article peer group.
Two police officers return to the Irvine Police Department.
Credit: Jaelyn Duran, VOICE OF OC
Daniel Meltvedt called 9-1-1 last Tuesday morning, saying he was worried about hurting himself or others and asking for help.
After an hour of negotiations, Irvine police officers shot and killed him, with the city claiming he “charged at officers while holding a knife.”
But Meltvedt’s family say that narrative being put out by both police and subsequently TV news doesn’t match up with the man they knew – a selfless, Christian, autistic man who loved his community and enjoyed taekwondo and the gym.
“The Irvine Police are just skewing it to be like he was this grown man terrorist, and they don’t really know who he was,” said Faith Meltvedt, Daniel’s older sister, in a Thursday interview.
“He just wanted someone to talk to.”
It was not the first time police officers had been called to the house, with several family members noting that Daniel would experience mental health episodes that could be calmed after talking with family.
Daniel’s father, Erich Meltvedt, was on the scene but was not able to speak to his son before the shooting.
“It was never something you couldn’t talk him off of,” said Zac Meltvedt, Daniel’s cousin, in a Thursday interview.
“He would always come to his senses if you could just talk to him in a calm manner and just let him ride it out, let him feel what he was feeling.”
During the altercation, Daniel primarily dealt with the Irvine Police Department’s Crisis Negotiation team, who were also backed up by others on the scene, according to a July 21 Facebook post .
“During the negotiation, our partners from the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) stood nearby with the Irvine Community Alternative Response and Engagement Team (I-CARE), ready to provide medical and mental health resources,” reads their post.
The department also promised more information would be released in the coming weeks on the shooting.
“Throughout the encounter, officers repeatedly encouraged Meltvedt to drop the knife and surrender peacefully so that he could receive care,” reads the statement.
“IPD had previously responded to several mental health-related incidents involving Meltvedt.
Following each incident, he was connected with mental health resources and, since 2025, had received follow-up services from the Irvine Community Alternative Response and Engagement.”
In a statement, police spokesperson Ziggy Azarcon said that a review of the incident will be published by the department “within the coming weeks” but did not answer other questions from Voice of OC.
Most city council members remained quiet on the issue, with Mayor Larry Agran and Councilwoman Melinda Liu calling it a “tragedy,” in separate statements, noting the police chief would speak more on it at the city council meeting scheduled for tonight.
Councilwoman Betty Martinez-Franco called it “devastating” and said there was “always room for improvement,” in training, but said officials needed to look into what happened before making any changes to the department.
“Any loss of life is devastating and my heart is with the young man’s family,” Martinez-Franco wrote.
We have one of the best police departments in the nation, and its personnel constantly go through continuous and rigorous training of all kinds.”
Both Zac and Faith said they wish there was a way Daniel could’ve gotten more help to calm down during the incident.
“This was his way to ask for help and I just think he didn’t receive that.
I just think that they didn’t take into care his condition,” Zac said.
“They know Daniel, it’s just kind of mind boggling.
They’ve been here before.”
“He would’ve been fine.
After every conversation he is ok.
He never has ever inflicted self harm,” Faith said.
“He didn’t deserve this at all.”
It’s not the only time in recent years Orange County law enforcement have struggled to handle people experiencing a mental health crisis.
One of the most publicized cases happened in 2021, when Anaheim Police Officers shot and killed Santa Ana Councilman Jonathan Hernandez’s cousin in front of him as Hernandez tried to explain he was having a mental health crisis.
The visitor entrance of the Anaheim Police Department in Anaheim on May 15, 2025.
Read : Santa Ana Councilman Watches Police Kill Cousin He Said Had Mental Health Crisis
“If you are having a mental health crisis, you are not safe in the hands of the police,” Hernandez said in an interview at the time.
Earlier this month, Hernandez brought up the incident again when council members discussed the police department’s annual disclosure of how they used military equipment, noting just how much firepower they used to draw his cousin out of the vehicle.
“They used a concussion grenade to break a window of Brandon Lopez to force him out of the vehicle.
They used tear gas in the vehicle to ensure that this individual is unable to breathe, the concussion grenade stuns any individual who comes into contact with that,” Hernandez said.
“Subsequently, he was shot 22 times by four different Anaheim Police Department officers.”
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department receives around 10,000 9-1-1 calls connected to mental health a year, according to a recent news release .
The sheriffs also announced they’re expanding their program to send out mental health professionals instead of deputies when there’s no sign of immediate threat to the community.
“Under the expanded program, certain behavioral health related 9-1-1 calls will be diverted to a licensed clinician instead of dispatching deputies,” reads the release.
“With this expanded approach, any call determined to be behavioral health-related with no violation of law or threat to public safety will no longer receive a deputy response.”
“Individuals in crisis who pose no threat to the community do not need law enforcement coming to their door.
They need trained behavioral health clinicians who are better equipped to get them help,” said Don Barnes, Orange County Sheriff-Coroner, in the news release.
“It’s important for our community to keep deputies focused on public safety and available for emergency calls.”
Faith and Zac pointed to Daniel’s faith as a big part of his life, noting that he would often jump to pay for dinners or offer his bed to visitors and find ways to support those around him.
“He would lead prayer at my dad’s life group, full grown men and there’s a 19-20 year old boy praying over every one of them,” Faith said.
“If you walk into the gym he went to, everyone knows his name cause no matter what community he’s in, he’s making a difference and he’s putting a smile on other people’s faces.”
Zac described him as “fearless,” recalling their times hiking and surfing and talking about how much he loved America.
“He just loved his community.
He loves America, he loves law enforcement, he was just in New York and took a photo with the NYPD a couple weeks ago with the biggest smile ever,” Zac said.
“I think he had so much trust in law enforcement and I think they really let him down.”
Analysis
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