by Ron Harper Jr.
This past Saturday afternoon, Robert Neill, Jr. 61 died at the hands of police. The Vietnam era vet, was a widow, father of three grown children and grandfather of 9 (according to newspapers accounts).
Neil called the police to his home for help for what’s reported to be neighbors harassing him.
So far, the only witnesses to Neill’s death were involved with his death. Normally, that fact would cause those listening to scrutinize their statements. Someone who just killed, would want to present the circumstances in a way that would make them look justified.
We are told that police were going to ‘302’ Neill. That’s lingo is the statute number that permits police and medical staff to call out the men in white jackets and haul anyone they want to a mental ward.
Setting aside (for the moment) other aspects of this story, can District Attorney Craig Stedman and law enforcement focus on this indisputable fact: No sane person believes, that a mental ill person, who calls the police to their home for help, should end up dead.
Imagine the terrifying last moments of this man. According to friends and family, for years this man was wrestling with residual terror acquired while in the service of our country! He calls the police for help, and they respond by shooting 50,000 volts of full-body, paralyzing, electricity at him – not once but twice! Oh, the ‘helpers’ also sprayed a caustic chemical on the troubled soul. This pepper mace, is a form of chemical choking in that it swells the throat, but also adds burning pain and blindness. Neill’s ‘helpers’ delivered this terror-inducing behavior that mimicked his war-induced post traumatic stress. And they did this to someone that they KNEW was mentally ill?
Would you want your dad to be treated this way? Your son? Yourself?
I have little doubt that we are going to hear a ‘while everyone regrets what happened to Mr. Neill, the police were following procedures and did what they had to do to protect themselves’. Or something to that effect! What will it take for the police or the public to DEMAND that training and policy should be IMPROVED so that this kind of incident NEVER happens again?
If this outcome – the death of a mentally ill man – is not acceptable – what are we doing to make sure it NEVER happens? Until police and DA Stedman starts that dialogue, another tragedy could happen today.
When I heard about this on the news and later read about it, so many questions came up.
No doubt we need police and municipal budgets are paying the toll. However in this case the state police are contracted to intervene in that municipality as they do not have their own force. IF the local police know this man and often times take him home with his bike, who responded to the call and were they not briefed on this man from those who knew him? Was there a gun present or did he show reason for this action?
This takes me back to the time I was on College turning onto Columbia Avenue around 10 PM when I was pulled over for making a turn on Red when I did not see the sign. Just minutes prior I saw a drug sale and the police officer that pulled me over had to have been in the area. After he pulled me over in front of Clock Towers, I respectfully gave him what he asked for as was told what I had done. I GENTLY asked him if he saw the incident just minutes ago on College and he just walked away.
What are we to do when the world is on tilt and just about everyone over reacts? Down the road a LAWYER will definitely get involved and rest assured there will be a legal case and the insurance company will pay and the rates will go up and on and on.
We need to somehow take control of the law enforcement part of our society. What I mean is that there are a lot of COWBOY police in the force and coming in. It is all over the country and WHY? Everyone is on tilt and the smart criminal, the criminal that knows the system, the criminal that is dangerous somehow falls through the crack…
My personal opinion of what we are in store for is this: THE HIGH DENSITY DEVELOPING DOES NOT GIVE SOCIETY ENOUGH OPEN SPACE. Square footage is shrinking and land is becoming scarce. Conclusion, humans along with their daily problems are packed in like sardines permanently and cannot cope…
Where are we going wrong? We rehab, and rerhab and look the other way too often YET an unarmed man who may have some mental problems ends up living the last minutes of his life being treated as he was. HOW SAD.