Will Smith - ripple effects

[AG_PhamD]

And yet, he won't be charged with a felony. SMDH.

That’s crazy. I don’t care if it’s Dave Chapelle or a homeless man. If you assault someone unprovoked with a weapon on your body (or even a fake weapon), you deserve to be charged felony. Especially if you have a history of violence. If the court wants to offer a plea deal reducing the charges to a misdemeanor (ie the perpetrator has no criminal history or mental health was a factor), that’s a totally different story.

Under California law the main difference between misdemeanor and felony assault is that felony assault includes a weapon. It’s my understanding typically the felony holds even if the weapon was not used, so long as it’s being carried by the perpetrator, even if it is fake. Similar to how bank robbery with a fake gun or fake bomb threat is still charged as an armed robbery.

The perpetrator reportedly was raised as a ward of the state, has been homeless much of his life, and has long suffered mental health issues. I’m very sympathetic to such cases but even those with mental illness need to be accountable for their actions in some form. I am a strong proponent for accelerated rehabilitation if people willing to take corrective actions and demonstrate changed behavior.

Presuming the aforementioned life circumstances are true, assuming he does not have an extensive criminal history of violence, I would much rather see him get the help he needs than sit in prison and have his life and future opportunities deteriorate. But I still think people should be charged with the crimes they commit and potentially be offered plea deals rather than under charging to begin with.

 

[AG_PhamD]

Dave Chappelle Assault Suspect's Brother: 'He's Not the Type to Just Lash Out' For 'No Reason'

Brother of man arrested for assaulting Dave Chappelle at Hollywood Bowl speaks out.

www.rollingstone.com

I’m not sure what it is exactly, perhaps the stress from COVID, the current political state, the rise of social media, etc but there generally seems to be more people acting out (ie all these incidents on planes), less tolerance for others in public, and increase in mental health episodes in public. The mask mandates obviously made some people very irritable when asked to follow the rules, but the pandemic in general has worsened mental health in those with pre-existing conditions, fueled the rise of new cases of mental illness, and for many made access to care more difficult. Plus most people do not seek out care to begin with.
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Last February at work (psych hospital) an inpatient who I had never met came up behind me, grabbed my head, and slammed it into a tile wall. The hit broke my glasses and created a gash above my eyebrow that required a plastic surgeon to stitch up to prevent a visible scar (which he did beautifully). I had a horrific black eye. Assaults in a psych unit are unfortunately not uncommon, but this was a pretty bad example.

The patient was a paranoid schizophrenic and believed I was someone else. The moment he saw my face he realized I was not whoever he thought I was from behind and was apologetic before basically having a panic attack.

The hospital called the police but I did not press charges, though the state may have done so- I never followed up on what happened. I didn’t find it useful considering he had voluntarily came to treatment and charged or not he was going to be transferred to a more secure facility. Complicating his relatively young life with a court case didn’t seem like it was in his best interest or mine. Plus I didn’t want to create/encourage the situation where the family then sues the hospital blaming them for allowing such a situation to occur (in this case there weren’t any major red flags, so I’m told). I am aware of some situations of hospitals being completely negligent, basically catalyzing such violence and should be held responsible (but often are not).

I consider my situation different situation from someone mentally ill assaulting someone in the outside world or intentionally and knowingly assaulting hospital staff. In a lot of cases arresting someone is the only way to reliably secure them in treatment. In the aforementioned case the guy was almost completely delusional. There are many other instances when mentally ill people attack others but still very well know what they are doing.

The mental health system in this county in most cases is totally dysfunctional. And there’s a lot of hospitals (And insurance companies) that just don’t give a crap.

 

[ronntaylor]

So if LA's finest had done their job since December...

Man Charged with Attempted Murder in December Stabbing | Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office

da.lacounty.gov

Lee is charged with stabbing his roommate during a fight at a transitional housing apartment on December 2. As a result of media reports about the Chappelle case, the victim recently identified Lee as the person who committed the assault he had previously reported to police.

The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.