Records show worries over Baltimore officer's mental health

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By JEFF HORWITZ, JULIET LINDERMAN and AMANDA LEE MYERS

BALTIMORE (AP) — The top Baltimore city police officer suspended following Freddie Gray's death was hospitalized in April 2012 following concerns about his mental health, according to records from a sheriff's department and court obtained by The Associated Press.

Worries about Lt. Brian Rice's stability — originally raised by a fellow Baltimore police officer who is the mother of his child — led deputies to confiscate his guns and contact high-ranking police officials, the report says.

Rice, who initially pursued Gray on a Baltimore street when Gray fled after Rice made eye contact April 12, declared three years ago that he "could not continue to go on like this" and threatened to commit an act that was censored in the public version of a report obtained by the AP from the Carroll County, Maryland, Sheriff's Office. Rice lived in the county, about 35 miles northwest of Baltimore.

Deputies reported that Rice appeared "normal and soft spoken" and said he had been seeking "sympathy and attention." But citing "credible information," the deputies confiscated both his official and personal guns, called his commanding officer and transported Rice to the Carroll Hospital Center. The weapons included his .40-caliber police pistol, a 9 mm handgun, an AK-47-style rifle, a .22-caliber rifle and two shotguns.

FULL story at link.



Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Anthony Batts announces that the department's investigation into the death of Freddie Gray was turned over to the State's Attorney's office a day early at a news conference, Thursday, April 30, 2015, in Baltimore. Pictured at right is Deputy Commissioner Kevin Davis. Batts did not give details of the report or take questions. He said the department dedicated more than 30 detectives to working on the case and report. ( (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20150501/us--baltimore-police_death-officer-1ffeb896c3.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. They must believe this could get very crazy if they don't throw one of them overboard

to appease public anger.

They must have gotten anxious when they realized their "nickel ride" story wasn't going anywhere.

[center][/center]
Thank you, O.S.

[HereSince1628]

2. The spectre of one man's past emotional crisis does take attention off -patterns- of police behavior

Last edited Fri May 1, 2015, 05:08 PM - Edit history (1)

This is another application of the 'bad apple' trope, with the bad being mental illness rather than a pervasive authoritarian attitude across an entire department that has dragged Baltimore taxpayers into settlements for police abuse.

Mental illness is very common in the US, and police are just as vulnerable to it as everyone else. So it wouldn't be unusual to have 1 in 5 employees of the police dept with some history of a mental illness...except for the fact that in the macho environments mental disorders are often projected as character faults which might contribute to a cop not seeking professional help.

So there is a chance an officer had a mental health problem, which could only be implied by a girlfriend ... but it's damned unlikely that one guy's problem was the cause of 6 millions dollars in settlements for police abuse and misconduct.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Maybe they'll claim he's the bad apple who spoiled the whole barrel, retroactively, as well. n/t

[MynameisBlarney]

3. So...

What about the other 5 officers?

[jwirr]

5. ONE officer has mental problems - but there were others there. THEY held him down - THEY

threw him into the van. If only one person was involved in this I would wonder about the one with mental problems but THEY were all involved.