I was forcibly locked up for 46 days in New Delhi, India, by my parents and husband for being a little abusive in a stressful situation. 10 policemen came and dragged me to a mental facility. It was the single most traumatic and devastating period of my life and I live now in fear of being locked up again. To be locked up, abused, violated and punished by people you love and trust is the biggest form of betrayal. I don't care what they were thought, and what advice they were given by the medical fraternity. I still have nightmares and fears of being locked up again, and I have to live with that in my bipolar head...
I hope this makes some families consider their actions when they feel they are acting in the best interest of their bipolar disordered loved ones. What we need most is love and understanding. Lack of that makes us go more crazy...
Love,
Jhilmil
Read what is on the Bipolar Disorder blog today from about.com
Excessive Force?
Tuesday November 24, 2009
That's what the family of Michael J. Gibson is saying after a San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) officer shoved him into a window of a train station, breaking the glass and injuring both. According to The Raw Story, Gibson has been charge with "felony battery of a police officer, obstructing and resisting an officer, disorderly conduct and public intoxication." Gibson's sister, however, says the officer was way out of line, and that her brother suffers from "bipolar disorder and schizophrenia."
The incident was caught by a passenger with a cell phone and the video posted on YouTube, where it gained widespread attention. (Warning: there is a lot of foul language in the video.)
It is plain from the video that Gibson was out of line, and that the officer could not have determined the man was mentally ill. Regardless, it appears to me that there was absolutely no reason for the officer to slam Gibson into the glass. And would the officer have treated Gibson differently if he had known about the man's mental illness? What do you think?
~Marcia
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3 comments:
All the comments from the about.com site...
(1) Jhilmil says:
I was forcibly locked up for 46 days in New Delhi, India, by my parents and husband for being a little abusive in a stressful situation. 10 policemen came and dragged me to a mental facility. It was the single most traumatic and devastating period of my life and I live now in fear of being locked up again. To be locked up, abused, violated and punished by people you love and trust is the biggest form of betrayal. I don’t care what they were thought, and what advice they were given by the medical fraternity. I still have nightmares and fears of being locked up again, and I have to live with that in my bipolar head…
I hope this makes some families consider their actions when they feel they are acting in the best interest of their bipolar disordered loved ones. What we need most is love and understanding. Lack of that makes us go more crazy…
Love,
Jhilmil
November 24, 2009 at 9:36 am(2) Diane says:
I was arrested for domestic battery for a minor slap on the back to my teenage daughter after I caught her throwing silverware and dishes around my kitchen because she claimed none were “clean” enough. She deliberately provoked this because she and her boyfriend were angry about my enforcing a rule of the house about him not staying overnight and decided I should be locked up in a mental institution. Her boyfriend slapped her very hard so as to leave a handprint before the police arrived to make it look bad. I did not know this until later.
I was handcuffed and forced into the back of a police car in front of my neighbors and placed in solitary confinement for the night until my husband could post bail after the judge heard my case. The police officer knew I was bipolar because I live in a small town and my daughter had told everyone as revenge. This was my first offense ever and I accepted a plea bargain for simple battery but I had to attend 9 months of intense “anger management” counseling and show proof to the judge at another court date. The incident was dropped from my record. This happened 3-4 years ago. Needless to say, my daughter now lives elsewhere to pursue her career and her boyfriend is now in the Army in Iraq and going through a divorce because he cheated on another woman he had married.
November 24, 2009 at 10:22 am(3) Roxy says:
This officer was doing his job. However slamming this mans head through a glass window is excessive. The fact that the gentleman is bipolar is irrelevant, he was obviously agitated.
I’ve been bipolar since 1997, I’ve had time to figure out what works and what doesn’t. I wish ppl would stop making excuses for manic episodes and take responsibility for their actions.
Roxy
November 24, 2009 at 11:33 am(4) Deb says:
My son is bipolar, and was in a manic state. We called for the medical unit and the police arrived first, They were out of control from the time they arrived at my home, we told they we did not need them we needed medical and told them our son was bipolar and in a manic state and needed to go to the hospital. They would not listen said he was fine and went on to search him, at this time he put his hands up and they stated he tried to hit them. They then tackled him and continued to beat him. This is just a bit of the story it gets much worse, what they did to my family. Therefore, I will tell you 95% of the police DONOT know and some donot care to know how best to handle these situations.
November 24, 2009 at 12:55 pm(5) John says:
I think it depends on the officers and the incident. I have had good interactions when I was suicidal once and bad
when I had some female officers really go way out of line and I was locked up.
I think that the public in this situation provoked the officer to act macho, he probably was much stronger than the mentally ill guy and didn’t realize the force he was unleashing. He could have called for a back-up and then made an assessment of the situation.
And more comments...
November 24, 2009 at 1:14 pm(6) Lily says:
Overall – I think the police often use way too much force on people in general. In the case of the mentally ill they seem to do it because they really don’t get that symptoms of mental illness may manifest in behavioral disturbances. Of course they need to protect the public but excessive force, tazer use etc lead to what often seems like extermination of the mentally ill.
Hard call though – we tend to see lots of coverage of police brutality and none of their compassionate side.
Personally, although I see little reason to trust most police officers, on the rare occasions when we have had the police at the house for one of our sons with PB they have been respectful and decent towards him. They have also been understanding of our need to get help when he is completely out of control.
One thing we have tried to get through to both our kids with BP is”don’t piss-off the police” but, unfortunately, whether they will remember this in a meltdown is a whole other thing.
November 24, 2009 at 3:38 pm(7) BC says:
Just look at the video closely. Witness reports were that the suspect punched out the window.
The reports are that the suspect had cuts to his right hand and right arm. That would be consistent with what I saw in the video – where the suspect punched out the window with his right hand.
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