As a mental health professional, I am outraged at how the police chose to deal with the man who attacked a woman and her pregnant daughter.
Obviously this man has a mental illness. Obviously he is a danger to others. Obviously he needs help and he needs to be some place where he and everyone else are safe.
The comments by Portland police spokesman Brian Schmautz are very uninformed and irresponsible. The police are very capable of bringing people to the hospital to be assessed for a hold. The police are very capable of calling Project Respond to help them assess a situation just like this.
The police should be very capable of judging when someone is a danger to others –such as when he assaults a woman and her pregnant daughter. If Schmautz and the other officers involved do not know these things by now (especially after James P. Chasse Jr.’s death), we have a serious problem. Not providing this man with the appropriate treatment did a huge disservice to him, his victims and our community.
GINA PATRIARCA
Southwest Portland