Editor’s Notes: Disturbing chain of events
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Last weekend I was at a very public event -- outdoors, large crowd, families enjoying themselves on a beautiful Labor Day weekend afternoon -- when I noticed some of the volunteers working with the event start gathering and whispering nervously, as though they were trying to figure out how to react to something. Then I saw a young girl, followed by two adults, run toward a place it seemed they had been told would be safe. They slammed the door behind them.
Seconds later, a disheveled looking man was hot on their heels and attempted to open the door. As I got closer, I was told by a volunteer that the man had tried to grab the little girl. Right there in the open, surrounded by all those people. And even as we spoke, the man was trying to get in -- apparently oblivious to the fact that he was now surrounded by people who had alerted security, called the police and were determined to keep him out but on the premises until the police arrived.
This man was either severely mentally ill or had taken a drug that had him on another planet. He never did seem to register that it was other people who were keeping him away from that girl. One person would push him away from the window and he would just bounce back around to the door, where another person would direct him away. He never seemed to hear what was being said to him. And worst of all, he never stopped trying to get at the girl.
Eventually, police arrived, and it seemed the man was taken into custody and was no longer a threat. THEN, the girl and two other people walked out, and after a brief check by one of the volunteers to make sure she was OK, they high-tailed it to their car. I heard one event volunteer tell the girl she was safe; the police had taken care of everything.
Frightening, but all's well that ends well, right?
He was back the next morning.
Same man, wearing the same clothes, sitting in the same spot, and trying repeatedly (and again, not seeming to register that he was surrounded by people who were trying to prevent him from doing so) to walk down into the crowd.
I was stunned. I walked over to a security officer who told me the man had not, in fact, been taken into custody the afternoon before; and that there was really nothing else the police could have done at the time. (Please bear in mind there was a lot of talk flying around, and I'm sure the police did try to do everything they were legally allowed to do.)
This time, it seemed from my vantage point that after the man made several attempts to plunge down into the crowd, he was either escorted very far away by security or perhaps again taken away by police. All I know is that from my vantage point, I saw him being spoken to by a person who appeared to be an officer and then I did not see him again for the rest of the day.
If I was rattled, I can't imagine how that little girl and her family must have felt. And I can't wrap my brain around why there wasn't more that could have been done. But then again, I have the luxury of making assumptions without any real knowledge of how law enforcement's hands might have been tied in the matter.
Whether it was a mental health or a substance abuse issue, to my mind, the man proved he was a danger. It seemed to me as though he not only needed help, but should face consequences for what so many had witnessed him try to do -- at the very least waiting in custody while both of those things happened.
It was a disheartening chain of events, made better only by the knowledge of how quickly so many people formed a barrier between the man and the little girl.
What is broken here? Is it the legal system? Is it our attitude toward mental healthcare or substance abuse treatment? Is it society as a whole?
When the volunteer told the little girl she was safe, the girl smiled back at her weakly. Maybe she knew that wasn't entirely true.
Forgive me not ending with any kind of resolution to the story or positive note. I very much wish for that girl's sake and for all of us, that I had one.
Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com