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How a Psychiatric Slip-Up Killed a Cop
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Roadell Hickman, The Plain Dealer / AP Photo
Timmy Halton may have been holding the gun that killed Officer Jason West, but the mental-health system that failed him—and fails thousands like him—helped get it into his hand.
What kind of mother doesn’t shed even one tear as her 29-year-old only son is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole? A very strong—albeit tired—one named Jeannette Halton-Tiggs. Her son, Timothy Halton, Jr. received the sentence on October 30 for gunning down Cleveland Heights Police Officer Jason West on May 25, 2007.
“I felt that it would have been disrespectful to the memory of Officer West for me to be seen by his mother and the media crying in the courtroom for my son, when her son is dead,” says Jeannette. “And it could be that I’m just cried out … I simply don’t have any tears left.”
Jeannette had been warning anyone who would listen that Timmy, who was diagnosed with the mental disorder as a child, was a ticking time bomb that would one day explode.
The media portrayed her son as a monster, but in truth Timmy Halton was mentally ill, suffering from a severe form of paranoid schizophrenia. “If my Timmy is a monster, then I guess that makes me the monster’s mother,” says Jeannette. “But he isn’t a monster—at the time he was just very sick.”
Jeannette has been haunted by the heinous crime for over two years now, and aches to reach out to the slain officer’s mother to hug her and tell her how truly sorry she is. But Cleveland Heights police officials warned her against making such a gesture. While the sentencing brings about some sense of closure for all involved, it doesn’t bring her any sense of peace.
“This killing should not have happened, and I’m going to dedicate my life to trying to change how the mentally ill are treated in this country … I want to at least make an effort to ensure that something like this never happens to another police officer, or anyone else for that matter,” says Jeannette. She serves as a spokesperson for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and is attempting to alert lawmakers to the failures of the mental-health system. She fantasizes about how powerful it would be if Officer West’s mother would join her in this effort, how the two of them could become effective change agents, but she doesn’t expect that to happen.
Jeannette says she now clearly understands that police culture in America is such that their associations, unions, and leadership are only reactive, never proactive; they wait until after an officer has been killed by an insane person, then demand that the mentally ill individual be put to death. But they never work toward changing the laws that allow dangerously sick people to roam the streets and harm innocent people in the first place. “This makes no sense to me,” said Jeannette.
Jeannette Halton-Tiggs
She had, for over a decade, been trying to prevent her son from doing harm to innocents. She had been warning anyone who would listen that Timmy, who was diagnosed with the mental disorder as a child, was a ticking time bomb that would one day explode. When he was 8, she knew that something was terribly wrong with him when he started trapping and torturing small animals. She sought out treatment for him, first through school counselors, and then through private professionals; what insurance would not cover she would pay out of pocket. A variety of diagnoses and drugs followed, but none seemed to work.
By age 16, Timmy’s condition was worsening, and he was committed to a psychiatric hospital for juveniles, in part because he thought that Jeannette was his wife. And, because he was approaching six feet tall and weighed close to 200 pounds, he was becoming capable of backing up his violent verbal outbursts with equally violent behavior. His psychosis made him so strong that he once ripped the toilet out of the basement floor as easily as if he were lifting up a chair.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
How Cleveland Enabled a Serial Killer
Mansfield Frazier is a native Clevelander and former newspaper editor. His regular column can be seen on CoolCleveland.com. An avid gardener, he resides in the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland with his wife Brenda and their two dogs, Gypsy and Ginger.
Sammy Sosa's Great White Hope
Mansfield Frazier is a native Clevelander and former newspaper editor. His regular column can be seen on CoolCleveland.com. An avid gardener, he resides in the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland with his wife Brenda and their two dogs, Gypsy and Ginger.
A Serial Killer's Free Rein
Mansfield Frazier is a native Clevelander and former newspaper editor. His regular column can be seen on CoolCleveland.com. An avid gardener, he resides in the Hough neighborhood of Cleveland with his wife Brenda and their two dogs, Gypsy and Ginger.
This essay makes no sense even as propaganda for drug companies. Diagnoses and legal prescriptions made by the mother of man convicted of murder of a policeman is based on what expertise? Psychiatry? Law? Drug Treatment? NAMI is not a civil rights organization. Link to US Senate investigation of NAMI a front for drug companies.
http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/644/36/
NAMI Constituency Revealed
AHRP.com
Lamenting "laws that allow dangerously sick people to roam the streets" does she support allowing psychiatrists and police taking freedom of persons who say or act in ways that psychiatrists do not like or understand? The woman disrespects the Bill of Rights. Police love that psychiatry lacks due process requirements.
She says he weighed 200 pounds but "His psychosis made him so strong." Huh? She admits that "none [of the prescribed drugs] seemed to work." If psychiatry was science the drugs would cure illnesses. Psychiatry treats symptoms not illnesses which are created by consensus not science.
She objects to "informed consent" for persons accused of mental illness saying "This is absolute insanity, to allow someone who is severely mentally ill to make those kinds of choices." Here's a problem. "She knew it wasn't his fault," suggesting it was the fault of an illness. Flip Wilson blamed the devil. What's the difference? Here's another bizarre practice--police enforce psychiatric diagnoses. Why don't they enforce diagnoses of broken legs or rashes? Timmy "came to see [the police] as the symbolic enemy." If a person commits a crime he is liable for the act. If an illness causes crime or violence it is a simple matter to incarcerate all persons accused of mental illnesses which only psychiatrists can see. The FDA warns that psychiatric drugs cause violent thoughts. Psychiatrists admit that stopping taking drugs cause violence. If toxic psychiatric chemicals cause violence if stopped why start? When will journalists scrutinize the violence caused by psychiatry?
-There's a massive discrepancy between people "who say or act in ways that psychiatrists do not like or understand" and someone who's been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia...
-You can weigh 200 pounds and be strong, especially during a psychotic episode, and regardless that comment is irrelevant.
-More precisely she states that his treatments didn't work at first. So either you didn't read the rest of this piece or you've conveniently decided to totally disregard and ignore the next paragraph where "The institutionalization-counseling by professionals, along with the strong psychotropic medications-worked well," and then "Paradoxically, during these four years, Timmy thrived. With the stability that the forced medication and monitoring provided,".
-As for objecting "to "Informed consent" for people accused of mental illness"... once again, either you haven't read this piece (any of it) or you have a mental illness, it doesn't take a psychiatrist to figure out that Timmy Halton had some pretty serious psychological issues. Or do you qualify all the anecdotes provided by his mother as bog-standard behavior and human interaction. He was clearly mentally ill and not in any position to not take medication.
I can't even be bothered to comment on the rest of your twisted and quite honestly deranging and ignorant comment.
Paranoia is seeing things that others do not see. That does not mean they are not there only that others (psychiatrists?) do not see them. Diagnosing a person is based on what? There is no pathology for mental illness. Only psychiatrists can see those illnesses. You argue my point about Tim's strength. His Mom said it was due to his "illness." Psychiatric drug treatment does not work and cannot work. Psychiatry treats symptoms of illnesses made up by consensus. See e.g., Margaret Hagan's "Whores of the Court." Tim was not violent for a while then he stopped taking the toxic drugs and voila, his body reacted to the chemicals. Were drugs responsible for all of his violence? Drug companies fear anyone thinking that. Most if not all the high school shooters were on psychiatric drugs and/or stopped taking them. Read the labels. It is very bad for business if people think drugs cause violence. But if you must keep taking them, that is very good for business. He had serious illness if you believe in psychiatry. Great personal attack. It shows you have no rational arguments. You accept the nonsensical argument that mental illness causes crime and violence. That is no different than saying the devil made me do it. You might want to try some medical treatment without consent because your doctor believes you can't understand what he wants to do to you. Psychiatric researchers use human mental patients for experiments because they say the patients can give informed consent during lucid moments. Oh but when they object then they are not lucid? Convenient for the researchers. And if they die well then it was due to a pre-existing condition which the police and the DA do not investigate. How quaint informed consent is. Thanks for trying to tolerate criticism of holy psychiatry. Personal attacks are great ways to express your frustration. Where did you learn to argue like that?
Firstly paranoia is thinking that people are out to get you. By extension said fears are irrational otherwise it wouldn't be paranoia it would be persecution and/or harassment.
But lets forget all the fancy nomenclatures and terms and look at what happened chronologically. Because whether you believe in psychiatry or not you can't say that there was nothing wrong with this guy.
As a kid Halton captured and tortured small animals. This alarmed his mom, she sought help from a variety of different places. Aged 16 he was institutionalized, one of the reasons cited being he was convinced his mom was his wife and he had taken to uprooting toilets. In said institution he receives counseling and psych drugs and his condition improves, now granted he's not "cured" he's less belligerent and no longer considered a threat to his family. He goes home, remains stable. Turns 18, ditches drugs and returns to his former self, his mother and sister have to lock themselves in their rooms and the police must frequently intervene. Halton says himself he can't control himself. This until he ends up in another institution for threatening dubya. He gets out and in 2005 after throwing a brick at a cop car and punching a cop in the face he's placed on county probation with forced medication and monitoring, during this time his condition is tamed to the point he lands a job, gets his own place and a car. Once he's done he stops his medication his condition deteriorates and he kills a cop.
Now i could care less about you criticizing "holy psychiatry" as you termed it, but it worked for Halton, yes there were side-effects, but it helped him: when he was on meds he could control himself and became more independent and less of a threat to himself and his family, when he stopped things would take a turn for the worse.
At no point do I associate mental illness with crime and violence, however in some instances, like this one, what some people call "a mental illness" sort of explains the violent outbursts.
Menckenlite, I can completely understand your discomfort with the idea of forcing psychiatric medications or hospitalization on those deemed mentally ill by society. However, as a psychologist who works in a psychiatric emergency room, I wonder if you have ever encountered someone who is in the throes of an acute psychotic episode? Last week, a woman came to the ER with a prior diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. She refused medication, but continually screamed (for a period of about 2 hours), in a manner that demonstrated the kind of anguish and pain that most of us will never experience. I acknowledge that psychiatric disorders are based upon consensus, which do not often represent a fully "objective" reality that is devoid of potentially flawed judgment. However, your response to the tragedy described in the article is one that negates the rights of society to protect itself from individuals who have lost their capacity for logical thought, and also negates the pain of the mentally ill, who are tormented by their psychotic symptoms in ways that are unimaginable to those blessed with the biology and environments that shield us from such torture. I recommend that you make an attempt to interact with a person suffering from malevolent command hallucinations before you express the kind of uninformed, reflexively "liberal" perspective that you have posted.
You accept the illnesses created by consensus. They are made up observations of symptoms--speech and behavior that the "consensus" does not like or does not understand. Criminal behavior is crime addressed by the police. Crimimalizing social problems is what the Nazis did in Germany. Psychiatric diagnosis is scientifically meaningless except to psychiatrists and psychologists who earn their money with their DSM-IV mumbo jumbo. Only psychiatrists can see mental illnesses. Using a prior diagnosis is circular reasoning. It is true because I said it is true. That is not logical.
You say, "your response [...] negates the rights of society to protect itself from individuals who have lost their capacity for logical thought, (does that include psychiatrists, politicians, judges and journalists--LOGICAL THOUGHT? Ahem!) and also negates the pain of the mentally ill (Do you say you can feel their pain?), [...] that are unimaginable to those blessed with the biology and environments that shield us from such torture." (Are those the NORMAL people? Society is protected from violent persons by police and jails.)
It's so obvious that you are a Scientologist, and have a tenuous grasp on reality. Why don't you go get some tech and try to get clear?
Personally, I don't agree with the thrust of Menckenlite's argument - but I am offending by your ungrounded personal attack on him. Why would you say something like that?
Wrong! You assume makes an *** out of you. Read Robert Whitaker's "Mad in America." Is he a Scientologist too? Are you being paid by any drug company for your personal religious attacks?
Youwot, try debating with a Scientologist, ANY scientologist on psychiatry. You will see why we have no tolerance. A corporation based around the delusional ramblings of a paranoid schizophrenic, with an axe to grind against psychiatrists, So he writes it into his sci fi story. Also, i am a sci fi fan and L Ron wrote shit books. So i was inclined to dislike him before i ever heard of scientology.
You are doing a disservice to the issue of turning it into a polemic about psychiatry.
I don't disagree with your criticism of the sometimes ignorant and brutal methods used to treat people with mental illness; but there are differing approaches to mental illness within the psychiatric field. (C.f for example the work of RD Laing, who ran one of the two most important psychiatric hospitals in London - and took a holistic/ therapeutic approach to treating mental illness).
But for me the importance of this article, and campaigning of Jeannette Halton-Tiggs, is to highlight the neglect of people with mental illness in this country.
Why not object to the article which is propaganda presented by a lobbyist for the drug companies? NAMI is a corporate lobbyist for the drug industry (see link in original post). Essay is all about promoting drug treatment. Neglect is correct. But promoting more abuse by those who are responsible for the neglect is an abomination. The psychiatric industry is a criminal conspiracy. They have enormous power in this country with well funded lobbyists on K Street in DC and all state capitals. They give money to local state and US politicians to get laws written to restrict human freedom in the name of love and good. George Bernard Shaw said "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Pre-Homeric Greek Philosopher Cleobulous said, "The chief source of evil among men is excessive good." Psychiatry is the demon. Scrutinize psychiatry and the drug companies. Be skeptical of what they say and do. Read books by Marcia Angell and Peter Breggin. Open your intolerant conformist minds.
Is there anyone who still believes this Szasz romantic mental illness crap? If the devastating effect of mental illness has really not affected anyone close to you (that you know of) then you are lucky. But your pontifications about mental illness expose your naivete and ugly malice.
So, Menckenlite, what is your solution? Or are you proposing that we wait until a mentally ill person commits a crime, and then incarcerate them? Is there a way to protect the rights of the mentally ill and also the right of the average citizen to be free from harm at the same time?
That's what happened in the 70's and 80's--see how well it worked? Look how much dignity and self-determination the mentally ill homeless have.
Why not lock up any person who may commit a crime before they do? You will be first. OK with you? Why treat persons accused of mental illness differently? They commit less crime than "normal" people. Crime is crime and mental illness whatever you want it to be is mental illness. They are not equivalent. The protections are in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and state anti discrimination laws, state and US Constitutions, which are ignored by police and psychiatrists alike. Psychiatrists believe they know better than ordinary people and are above the laws of man. That is one problem with these intolerant conformist control freaks.
Menckenlite: Scilon Alert. Recommendation: Go fly in a DC-6 back to Xenu. Maybe the Marcab Confederacy will execute you for income tax mistakes.
You are a bigot attacking me for the religion that you fear. Why not attack homosexuals and Muslims? Is that how you argue? Calling people names? Where did you learn that? In your church?
No. It more for amusement. When you have a phony religion that has OMG SECRET KNOWLEDGE that will kill you to hear, it makes trolling them one of the most enjoyable activities on the net. Plus, with a record like scientology, it makes being an SP one of the easiest jobs in the world. Face it, admitting you are a Scientologist instantly down to the credibility level of those zealots that believe the earth is 6000 years old.
Basically, its fun, and easy. Scientology is the internet's punching bag, much like furries. The secrecy and lies you spout have been brought into the light of day with the advent of the information age, and people don't like what they see. Thus, people like me, and shows like South Park, make you a laughingstock. Learn to bear it with pride, or let go. Its your choice.
^it's
Unless you have actually lived with someone up close and personal with mental illness you could never imagine that insanity can really happen and is real. My family member, a peaceful,kind and loving person when not manic becomes a irrational,mean,loud and we are all in fear of what is next when this happens. They do not sleep for days, violence is always possible. It is the most difficult thing I have ever witnessed. Legally almost nothing can be done. When the mania finally ends, the devastation it has left is unbearable .Menckenlite..... you do not know what you are talking about.
Speak for yourself not for others. That is the issue under much of the abuse of psychiatrists, they speak for others and deny others the right to speak. You do not like the behavior that you demonize and want to medicalize it. That is what psychiatrists do for money. They want to "treat" behavior and speech that others do not like or do not understand. If what you see is a crime address it as a crime. If not a crime either tolerate it or get away from it. What you object to is annoying non conformity.
When a loved one is mentally ill and doing things that could injure someone I would not be demonizing them. Mental illness can be anything from depression, which would not be a danger to others. Yet, would you really step back and let a loved one with full blown mania kill someone?
It is not conformity or non conformity if you know someone is a danger to himself or the public. Now, if they are mildly manic, ok.
Menckenlite: do you have any family members with serious mental illness? Is there anyone to whom you are emotionally attached that has experienced an acute manic or psychotic disturbance? If so, did you have to deal with the fallout? If a loved has experienced a serious mental disturbance in your presence and you hold the opinions described above, then I guess your opinion is based on experience, and you've just come to a different conclusion than I have. If however, as I suspect, you've had no such experience, then I suggest you try to educate yourself in the matter.
Anyone who has had a loved on go from nonfunctional and miserable to healthy and happy with the help of medication and psychiatry can attest to this, dzsupertrain. Countless lives have been reclaimed with the tools we have developed.
US Army Major Malik Hasan a loving suicidal deranged psychiatrist killed 13 and wounded 30. Hero police officer Kim Munley shot the violent psychiatrist and saved innocent lives. Psychiatrists have the highest suicide rate among professionals. They do more harm in the name of good than a thousand guns and more than a million bigoted morons who attack religions they do not like. Psychiatrists are violent control freaks who need public scrutiny. Instead their PR flacks direct attention at their victims. Willing conformist journalists obey the lead of these high paid lobbyists and celebrate promoting more drug usage for more violence. Open your your intolerant conformist minds.
Thank you.
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