Why in the world has he been in the country jail for five months? Insane.
For years, Ryan Broderick has been trapped inside his mind, watching a constant reel of explosions that rocked the Army vehicles he had scrubbed of blood during three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Since January, Broderick has been stuck inside a real jail, fortified by cinder blocks, surrounded by barbed wire. The government that Broderick upended his life to serve locked him up in Edgecombe County, about 75 miles east of Raleigh.
In the eyes of federal officials, Broderick posed a threat to America and should be treated as a criminal.
Broderick, 31, of Fayetteville, is being prosecuted for comments he let fly during a call to speak with a counselor at the Veterans Affairs suicide crisis hotline. He was frustrated and sleep-deprived.
His words were clear: If he didn't get the help he needed for his post-traumatic stress disorder, he would bring a gun to the VA hospital and Fort Bragg and start shooting.
More @ Stars & Stripes
Yep. Open and shut case. You can call for help. But you can't threaten to kill the people you call. A wise judge though would have confined him to a mental hospital (non-VA) for eveluation and treatment.
ReplyDeleteShould have been a MAD magazine piece.
Delete"She reminded him that he had an appointment set up with a psychiatrist at the VA on Feb. 3; it had been arranged when he called on Dec. 23 contemplating suicide."
ReplyDeleteThis is unacceptable. It's "almost" like they want a large body count.
After the courts in CA ruled that involuntary incarceration for mental illness is unConstitutional (unless the person has done physical harm to someone or himself) we've been sliding down that slope to where now, you can't even voluntarily commit yourself. This is disgusting. Especially because it's our veterans that are getting the shaft. (until obamacare spreads it's vileness further)
you can't even voluntarily commit yourself.
DeleteRidiculous.
His other fault was calling the VA hotline instead of a REAL suicide prevention hotline.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't know about the latter. Hopefully, it would be different.
DeleteThe key to getting committed to a mental institution for a brief stay as there is
ReplyDeleteno money for mental health, is to say one is considering suicide. I guess
Broderick was basically loosing it which should have been addressed long ago.
Didn't 56,000 Vets commit suicide after the needless Vietnam war or whatever
you want to call it.