We need a better way to deal with the mentally ill
Published May 30, 2003
Thank you for writing about Tom Wallace's death. Please, let us hope that this tragedy will motivate us to change our system. Let's find a way to deal with the mentally ill without gunning them down. Mr. Wallace should be alive today, and it falls upon us to find a way to deal with this situation before we kill someone else. Anything less is unacceptable.
Roughly 10 years ago, I remember being stunned when our police force summoned help from the Sheriff's Office to deal with a distraught woman. Armed and afraid, she had closeted herself in her home. Her daughter had called the police for help. The police arrived with a SWAT team. Amid flashing lights they tried to talk rationally with someone who was totally and obviously irrational. Then, guns drawn, they stormed the house.
The outcome was a foregone conclusion, and they carried the woman's body away on a stretcher.
I didn't ask for reform then, nor did many others. This sort of event has happened again and again. This time we should demand effective change.
The irony in these situations is compelling. The paranoid person's obsessions and reality become one. The police really are out to get you, and by the way here they come - armed to kill! No wonder Mr. Wallace reacted as he did. No wonder the police acted as they did. No wonder this ended as it did. Clearly educating the entire department a small amount is a strategy that unfortunately has not worked.
As your article describes, the police have so many complicated tasks at which they are expected to be expert. The complexity of dealing with a mentally ill person may be so difficult that it becomes uneconomic to train everyone effectively. But surely we can train a small group that can be brought in to deal with these unusual situations. As a community, we can't allow this to happen again. Part of the blame might be on the size of our community - the anonymity that comes from being one of hundreds of thousands of people living together. I think Tom would be alive today if he had picked a small town as his home, because "everyone" would have known about him and the police would have know to deal with him in a more humanitarian way. But in our city, he is an obscure person with aberrant behavior, and so we force the issue until he is gunned down.
Let this be the last. As a community, let's ask our police and our city administrators to find a better way. Maybe it is having a new kind of "SWAT team" that will specialize in dealing with the mentally ill. Whatever. But let's find a way to deal with these people without drawing our guns and killing them.
It would have taken less than 30 seconds talking to the people who watched Tom Wallace daily to learn that he was sick and needed help. And not much more than that to know that "going in with guns drawn" is no way to deal with someone who is mentally ill.
Let's work together to find a better way.
-- P.N. "Bud" Risser III, St. Petersburg
Police should have special teams
Re: Descent of a man, May 25.
Most people reading this article about the homeless man shot by the St. Petersburg police will feel that something isn't quite right here. But no one knows what to do about this problem, which is obviously not isolated to this case.
Some who see only black and white will call the police "trigger happy," which is not the case in my way of thinking. Could they have done things differently? Perhaps. Unfortunately, it probably will take more shootings of mentally ill people before something more is done about this.
I suggest that there be a special team of police officers and probably some mental health professional or at least someone trained in that field, to go along to handle such calls. The training that has been given does not seem to be enough.
The rank and file of our officers should still have the training that has been set up for them. But there should be more highly specialized individuals, who, not only by training, but also by their natural personality and ability for these types of situations, would be available 24/7.
Could individuals who do not have a gun be approached by nongun-toting officers, one or more of whom have special training in disarming people with knives, home-made spears, etc.? One or two officers standing by could have a gun, in case something like a gun is suddenly on the scene. I would think that other nonlethal weapons could be effective against such people, such as long-range Mace, pepper spray, tear gas, a stun-gun, a long pole or a bat to knock the weapon away.
Obviously, these people belong in a mental hospital or facility. Many do very well on medication and with supervision can live in the community.
Not to be too facetious, I hope, but sending officers with guns drawn into this water tank to handle this situation was like "lighting the match to assist her," as Bonnie from the famous song looked into the gas tank.
-- Earl Kendall, M.D., Largo
Tom Wallace shouldn't have been killed
A friend of mine was killed the other day. His name was Tom Wallace. He was a good man, and he was shot by the police. He was a graduate of the University of Florida, and he also held a degree in fishery science from a school in Texas. He was a Christian Scientist who never used drugs or alcohol or even aspirin. He was, however, mentally disturbed - paranoid and delusional. He believed in a "Great Conspiracy" of rich and powerful people, including many in the government who were out to ruin or kill him. Well now they have.
The police say they had no choice, but of course that is a lie. He was cornered in his home, an abandoned water tank, and like any cornered animal he tried to defend himself. He had a spear. Rather than talk him out, gas or pepper spray the tank, tranquilize him or Taser him, these officers didn't want to wait, and so they climbed in after him putting themselves in danger and creating the situation that resulted in his death.
If he had been a bear or a panther, he would have been taken alive and removed to a safe haven. Tom should have been taken alive so he could finally get the medical help he needed. With the proper medication, something he never had, he could have regained a meaningful and productive life.
-- Tony Polito, St. Petersburg
Spread the word
Re: Legislature proves it is not a puppet of the people, May 26.
Howard Troxler hit another home run. It is now time for this article to get widespread distribution. Most voters don't read his articles (pity) as the paper doesn't print them in the comics or Sports section.
I am going to see that everyone I know is made aware of this information and will pass it on to an ever increasing number of voters. Perhaps we can vote out the current group. I would certainly favor a strong third party, but that seems to be wishful thinking.
P.S.: Whatever you pay Mr. Troxler, it isn't enough.
-- Andrew F. Tangeman, Palm Harbor
Don't blame term limits
Re: Legislature proves it is not a puppet of the people.
I just finished reading Howard Troxler's comments on our Legislature, and I do agree with him on every point but one. Term limits are not one of the causes for what happened in this session of the Legislature. The people we elected are the problem.
This is the most corrupt Legislature in Florida history. Lawmakers work for legalized bribes, only they're called campaign contributions. Term limits have nothing to do with it. The lawmakers have to accept full responsibility for acting like lap dancers while lobbyists wave hundred-dollar bills at them. They chose to raise our phone bills for the telephone companies' money. They chose to change workers' comp, again for money. They chose to delay the cleanup of the Everglades for sugar money. To say that part of the problem is term limits, is like a killer saying he didn't kill anyone, the person who gave him the gun did. Only the state Legislature is slowly killing the people of Florida, while business is stuffing money down our legislators' pants.
-- Kirby Staples, Clearwater
Sneakers vs. schools
Re: A society ruled by sports and An outrageous "deal," letters, May 26.
Both letter writers were disturbed by the $90-million endorsement contract between Nike and LeBron James.
While it does sound outrageous, the fact of the matter is that Nike calculated a return on investment and is doing it to benefit its stockholders and to preserve its brand. It is not the responsibility of Nike or LeBron James to educate our children. It is our own responsibility.
We Floridians have shown time and again that education is not a priority by electing politicians who merely pay education lip service rather than making the tough choices to improve our failing schools. The fact that Gov. Jeb Bush has attempted to usurp the will of the people by attempting to have the class size amendment overturned only illustrates my point.
The sad fact is that we as Floridians are more than willing to spend $100 for sneakers rather than putting money toward our schools.
-- John Nixdorf, Tarpon Springs
To combat legal malpractice
Re: Crime doesn't pay, nor does innocence, May 26.
This article by Jonathan Turley points out one of the reasons why the American judicial system is out of control. Many cases are prosecuted based not on the merits of the case but on how well the defendant is financially able to defend himself in court.
A big step in restoring the word "justice" in the criminal justice system would be to have the prosecuting agency liable for any and all reasonable defense costs in proceedings during which the defendant is acquitted.
This would attract proficient defense for the accused as well as discourage the prosecution from going to court with weak "give it a shot and see what happens" cases.
A major overhaul of the legal system, both civil and criminal, is urgently needed in this country. The legal profession can and should be held responsible for its actions. Many of our problems in fields such as health care, product liability, family law and a host of others can be attributed directly to the judicial system, which has self-evolved without concern for majority interest.
I will believe change is coming when I see "legal malpractice" lawsuits as common as "medical malpractice" ones.
-- John Bowens, Spring Hill
A strange remembrance
On Memorial Day weekend, somewhere between the baseball games and the backyard barbecues, we find a time (I hope) to thankfully remember those who paid the greatest price so that we could do all the inane things that we do on this holiday. Sometimes this occurs in strange ways. Following Sunday Mass, local schoolchildren were distributing small American flags, the size and type that are often used to decorate the graves of our fallen soldiers on what we as young people referred to as "Decoration Day."
Emblazoned on the side of each of the American flags was "Made in China." It is astounding to think that we have come to the point that we must import our flags, the very symbol of our nation and for which these men and women gave their lives.
-- Thomas I. Hayes, St. Petersburg
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