Mayor de Blasio is really worried about the shocking random attack in an ATM vestibule by a man wielding a hatchet.
Worried, that is, that we may “stereotype” people with mental-health issues. “Very, very few [mentally ill people] have a violence problem,” he insisted Wednesday.
Cold comfort to the victim lying in a hospital bed with stab wounds – don’t worry, it doesn’t happen very often.
Except it does. In October 2019, four homeless men were bludgeoned to death by a mentally ill man with a pipe. In February of this year, a mentally ill man went on a subway stabbing spree, killing two. And a mentally ill woman was arrested this week for trying to shove a man onto the tracks.
And even if a tiny percentage of the mentally ill turn violent, that small group still instills fear and death across the city. This isn’t “stereotyping” – this is begging, begging de Blasio to have one iota of compassion.
Because these perpetrators are the victims, too. In treatment or on medication, they would likely be horrified by the violence they have done.
What is de Blasio doing in response? Pouring even more wasted millions into his wife Chirlane McCray’s “Mental health for all,” a program aimed at depression rather than the seriously mentally ill.
The administration has burned more than $1.25 billion on this folly. Then they tell cops to leave the mentally ill sleeping on the streets. Social workers do not force anyone into shelter, even if they aren’t in their right minds. No, no – let them freeze, go the bathroom in public, sleep on concrete. Because to insist they get help would be unfair.
So the revolving door continues. A mentally ill person assaults someone, they are taken to Bellevue, treated, then let go. They harass someone again, until they do something so bad they are taken to Rikers. There is nothing kind about this. It is a failure of New York City. It is making our streets unwelcoming and unsafe. And Blas doesn’t care one whit.
*story by The New York Post
