Insurance to Cover Settlement Between Okla. Town, Mentally Ill Man’s Estate

June 20, 2008

  • June 20, 2008 at 2:22 am
    KLS says:
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    It isn’t like all mentally ill people wear big t-shirts saying “MENTALLY ILL”. You can’t tell from looking at or even interacting with someone for a brief period whether or not they’ve got mental problems.

    Sounds like this was a no-win situation for both the man and the police from the beginning.

    I imagine cops often don’t immediately know whether someone is truly violent or high on PCP, or just disturbed and scared, or both. Unless you have a friend or relative of the person right there giving you info, you don’t have any way of knowing what a person’s history is when you arrive on the scene.

    Thankfully now most police are equipped with “less lethal” implements such as tasers, bean-bag and pellet guns, and pepper foams and sprays.

    It’s unfortunate that this situation didn’t have a different outcome.

    But the mentally ill man did have a weapon and sometimes police have to make a judgment call. I probably would have used deadly force if I was trying to subdue a person armed with a sword and the pepper spray wasn’t slowing them down.

  • June 20, 2008 at 2:26 am
    Dread says:
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    If the estate of this nut case was so concerned about him, why did they allow him to roam the streets with a freaking sword threatening to kill himself? If the cops followed protocl, it shouldn’t matter if the guy was nuts or not. He was a danger to others. In the future, police should simply allow people to commit suicide and not intervene unless they become a threat to others.

  • June 20, 2008 at 2:51 am
    SP says:
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    I actually agree with Dread.

    “In the future, police should simply allow people to commit suicide and not intervene unless they become a threat to others.”

    If a person wants to kill themselves, without causing harm to others, let them. I would hope that it is still our right to do so. Sure there should be exceptions, ie minors. But I think we should have the choice to live or not.

  • June 20, 2008 at 3:22 am
    joe says:
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    here’s a crass observation: what is the value (in this judgement) of the life of a man who intended to end it at his own hands very shortly?

    looks like there wouldn’t be any “value” in a settlement. he had already established by his actions his life was worth nothing – – -.

  • August 4, 2008 at 10:56 am
    KM says:
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    First of all… you don’t even know the whole story. I know about this for two reasons: 1) i am a counselor, 2)This man was my second cousin. He was not running around the street with a sword. He called a hotline, who called the police. They then proceeded to yell at him and pepper spray him and THEN he took the sword off of the wall. All police need training to deal with these types of situations. They knew he was suicidal when they got the call. Just be careful what you say. You don’t know who’s reading



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