Okay, what’s wrong with this story right from the git-go?

Cidu Bill on Sep 19th 2009

“A criminally insane killer who escaped during a mental hospital field trip to a county fair…”

(the full article)

Filed in Bill Bickel, Crimeweek, crime | 19 responses so far

19 Responses to “Okay, what’s wrong with this story right from the git-go?”

  1. Izzy Sep 19th 2009 at 01:30 am 1

    I had to reread that sentence a couple of times because I honestly felt I must have misread the first time. Unfortunately, I wasn’t.

  2. Vidya Sep 19th 2009 at 02:31 am 2

    Actually, from what I’ve read about the case, the man in question had responded well to decades of treatment and had even previously been considered for release. In many cases, people convicted of “criminal insanity” respond very well to medication. There’s not even any evidence that this particular man has any violent intentions, just that he obviously could not endure life in an institution (how many of us could?)
    What’s worse, however, is the comments I’ve seen online about how “mental patients” shouldn’t have been taken to the fair. There’s no evidence that any of the other people on the trip had violent histories, and yet people are dragging out the old “people with mental illnesses are dangerous” meme. We still have so far to go in advocacy for and by persons with psychiatric disabilities.

  3. chuckers Sep 19th 2009 at 04:25 am 3

    After reading the article, I was wondering what first degree escape was.
    Why does escape have degrees?

  4. Tim Sep 19th 2009 at 08:41 am 4

    Vidya, I agree that most people with “mental illnesses” are not dangerous, and should not have any problems on a field trip. This guy is the one we’re talking about. This guy probably should have been met Old Sparky years ago, and then the other patients would have had an enjoyable time at the fair.

  5. padraig Sep 19th 2009 at 09:58 am 5

    Umm, the fact that it really happened instead of being the flimsy setup for a cheesy slasher movie kinda jumps out at me as being wrong…

  6. padraig Sep 19th 2009 at 10:03 am 6

    Since Vidya got all serious, I’ll join in: a lot of folks like him are fairly stable and greatly improved. WHILE they are institutionalized and WHILE they are medicated. The results once they are on their own and free to stop their medication range from outstanding to tragic. I think this guy, if released, would have tended toward the “tragic” end of the scale.

    Please keep on advocating, but this particular case appears to have been mishandled.

  7. Norm Sep 19th 2009 at 10:50 am 7

    @chuckers: escape tends to have degrees in most states depending on whether force was used. Simply walking away is different from hitting a deputy over the head, for example.

  8. Elyrest Sep 19th 2009 at 11:00 am 8

    I was brought up on the grounds of a state mental hospital - my Dad was a doctor there. I have also worked with the public in many of my jobs. I can tell you that there is not much difference between the two groups of people. One group just got caught.

  9. Mark H Sep 19th 2009 at 11:04 am 9

    Caption says he’s 57, story says he’s 47. Looks more like 47 to me.

  10. Tom T. Sep 19th 2009 at 02:02 pm 10

    Note that this was the second time he’d escaped while on a field trip, and it sounds like he attacked a deputy when he was recaptured that time. And after that, he’d been living in a halfway house but returned to the prison in a agitated state, apparently unable to hack it (so to speak) on the outside. Whatever sympathy one might have for those who are incarcerated and mentally ill, in this case it should not have translated to a trip outside the institution.

  11. Norm Sep 19th 2009 at 08:28 pm 11

    @elyrest: True that. Very true that.

    @ Tom T.: You have no access to his files. Nor do I. I am not going to question the decision of the people who do to approve his trip without having that information. You (and that includes Bill) should not either.

  12. Cidu Bill Sep 19th 2009 at 10:36 pm 12

    Norm, if this man was, as the article says, criminally insane, then there isn’t a single member of the public who DOESN’T have the right to question the decision.

  13. DSkinner Sep 20th 2009 at 02:56 am 13

    It turned out well in The Dream Team.

  14. Frank the curmudgeon Sep 20th 2009 at 03:07 am 14

    Can we blame it on ACORN?

  15. Tom T. Sep 20th 2009 at 10:51 am 15

    Norm, the information that’s publicly available is enough to convince me.

    We’re now also hearing that he had had packed all his clothes in a backpack and taken it with him to the county fair. Apparently no one questioned this.

  16. David N Sep 20th 2009 at 09:55 pm 16

    Supposedly he’s been caught … MSNBC says it a little funny: “Sheriff’s sergeant says escaped insane killer has been captured.”

    STAND DOWN HIDING THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN. THAT IS ALL.

  17. Jeff S. Sep 20th 2009 at 10:46 pm 17

    He blended in with all the carnies. Follow the fair, and they’ll get their man.

  18. Suzii Sep 21st 2009 at 06:01 am 18

    Here’s a glimpse of the guy unfiltered by journalism (filtered, yes, but by himself): http://www.myspace.com/phillywillyandthehillbillies

  19. labradog Sep 23rd 2009 at 09:06 am 19

    There’s NOTHING wrong with that story, you ninny.

    That is the single best headline I’ve read in years! It lights a grisly fuse in the imagination of everyone who reads it!

    It. Was. Perfect.

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