How does the red headed step child of any family overcome pariah status? Simple, get his ass blown up by the police. From pariah to golden goose in a matter of moments. Mama come on down, you’ve just won the ghetto lottery.
Damian Daniels was having mental health issues. The family called the Bexar County Sheriff’s office, not once but four times over the course of twenty-five hours. Deputies tried to engage him three times without success. The forth time he came outside and spoke to them.
Several things became obvious. Daniels was crazier than a shithouse rat. Secondly, Daniels was armed. Deputies spoke with him for a half hour. They watched Daniels become more erratic and irrational.
They decided that he was a danger to himself and others. Being armed with a pistol he had the ability to carry out any homicidal urge that came to mind. The deputies decided to disarm him and take him into custody for a mental health evaluation.
The fight was on. Deputies tried a Taser, to no effect. They tried to disarm him and succeeded in interfering with his ability to draw his own weapon. So Daniels opted to try and take a deputy’s gun. He died, very suddenly, shot twice in the chest.
The family is all upset. I don’t know why. Right, wrong or indifferent the county is going to pay off like a slot machine. Mama will do better out of this shooting than if she had run out and bought a Lotto ticket. No more wacko and cash in hand.
Yeah, I know I’m an asshole. But then so was Daniels. He held his entire family hostage to his craziness. The family called not once but four times. That indicates a concern for the safety of everybody in close proximity.
Here is a scenario for the reader. A family member is in crisis to the degree that outside intervention is required. He is a veteran. Who do you call?
A. The local VA hospital.
B. The local Mental Health and Mental Rehabilitation agency (MHMR)
C. The family doctor.
D. The police (sheriff’s office).
The problem arises when the so-called mental health professionals (A,B,C) only work 9-5 and they don’t make house calls. Would calling the Sheriff’s office be your first choice? Why was it the choice of Daniels family? Has anybody bothered to ask who else did you call and how many times? Which one of these mental health heroes said, “Not my table, call the Sheriff’s Office.”
Liberals prefer a simple narrative. No sense in confusing issues with facts. Here is a misleading quote from the family attorney.
Merritt acknowledged the family does not know all of the details leading to the deadly use-of-force, but they do know that Daniels was at home, legally armed, and had committed no crime. He noted the deputies could have left when Daniels refused to comply.
Lee Merritt,
The statement is self serving at best and blatantly dishonest at worst. Daniels was at home. The family was sufficiently concerned about his mental health that they called the Bexar County Sheriff four times. Under Federal law, people who are crazy cannot possess a firearm. Okay, Daniels had not been adjudicated as a wacko. But the Deputies, on the scene, judged him to be sufficiently deranged. They felt justified in taking him into custody, as a danger to self and others. This is a first step on a mental health commitment. Walking away from an armed wacko was not an option, once that decision was made.
People, even the crazy ones, are entitled to make shitty decisions. Daniels made a bad choice. Given, how the mental health community reacts to crisis the family took the only option available to them. That it didn’t work out is not the fault of the Bexar County Sheriff’s office.
