Community Chat

[PamfromCT]

I pray for this innocent little boy and his mother.

My thoughts on the man who did this.............just imagine.

[cherry]

My guess is he is mentally ill. I don't think normal people do things like this. I hope somedy we can get a better handle on treating this sort of problem,and stop it ,before it gets this far along

The poor child and mother, I hope everyth8ing works out for them. That little kid will most likely suffer from PTSD as well as their physical injuries. The malls need to fix this problem.

[meallen616]

Horrible! Why??? I just felt sooo bad for him and his Mother. I hope he survives. For the entire family,

[software]

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@dex wrote:

disgusting fact that the guy who did this has caused trouble before.Why isn’t he in jail?

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He should have been banned from the mall, at the very least.

I'm sure Security would recognize him.

From what I understand, that mall is enormous.

I probably wouldn't survive a fall from 1 story

This is just so horrible.

[Cakers3]

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@software wrote:

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@dex wrote:

disgusting fact that the guy who did this has caused trouble before.Why isn’t he in jail?

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He should have been banned from the mall, at the very least.

I'm sure Security would recognize him.

From what I understand, that mall is enormous.

I probably wouldn't survive a fall from 1 story

This is just so horrible.

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@software   He WAS BANNED from the mall and had been convicted of 2 misdemeanors in 2015.

He has thrown items off the railings before and in one incident was so out of control that restaurant patrons started fleeing in panic at the same mall.

He also smashed computers at a local library.

I'm not interested in his "mental illness"; he admitted to having anger problems.

My issue is that this man gets arrested, gets banned, and nobody does a thing to address his admitted anger issues.

This isn't going to stop with this man.

I hope and pray that this wee child will survive with no lasting physical effects.

I cannot even imagine.

[cherry]

I am not excusing him @Cakers3 , but until we take mental illness seriously, I am afraid more of this type of behavior will be exhibited.

He should have been given meds . In my state people come daily, to make sure you take them. It isn't perfect but it is a start

[happycat]

This is just the saddest thing. I pray that little boy makes it, and I also pray this man is either put in a mental hospital or jail. I don't care where, but he doesn't need to be out with society.

Whether this is an anger thing, or a mental health thing or whatever it is, how many more are out among us, just like him or even worse?

@cherry, I'm glad to hear your state is making sure people are taking their meds, I can't imagine the cost and manpower that would take.

[Trinity11]

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@cherry wrote:

I am not excusing him @Cakers3 , but until we take mental illness seriously, I am afraid more of this type of behavior will be exhibited.

He should have been given meds . In my state people come daily, to make sure you take them. It isn't perfect but it is a start

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@cherry ...compliance is the problem. Mentally ill people often stop taking their meds due to side effects.

There are few places in the U.S. that  provide a supervised environment for the mentally ill. Once the mental health institutions were closed, there is an entire population of sick people with nowhere to go. 

[cherry]

@happycat  in the long run, it is cheaper than the alternative..Of course it is only severe cases and it takes a court order

[Cakers3]

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@cherry wrote:

I am not excusing him @Cakers3 , but until we take mental illness seriously, I am afraid more of this type of behavior will be exhibited.

He should have been given meds . In my state people come daily, to make sure you take them. It isn't perfect but it is a start

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@cherryThe courts hands can be tied, too.

He should have been sent for evaluation and then determined if he needed meds.

I am not a big fan of medications; enforcing the usage can be difficult and often a band-aid to a deeper problem.

Then we have the issue of the rights of these defendants; and banning a person from this mall obviously didn't work.

Had he been evaluated by a professional for his admitted anger issue, we may have had a person who could have begun to turn himself around.  We order drunk drivers to AA; certainly there had to be something for him.

I understand that medications can be a tremendous help; but the precribing of meds without intense follow-up counseling will not help.

Sometimes it all comes down to "rights" and personal privacy vs. safety of others and the person him/her self.

The ball is dropped so many times in all these cases; we don't know what his diagnosis would be if seen by a competent psychologist/psychiatrist.

Unfortunately society still frowns upon coupling mental health with incarceration; or a few meds are given but once that band-aid is ripped off the person is out and at it again.

Not every mental health issue requires meds;  short-term to help a person rearrange perception, I agree-but only if really necessary.