Stunning report on Robert Card's brain damage (Bangor: 2013, apartments)

[Last1Standing]

https://archive.ph/HCB9m


He had severe damage from high exposure to blasts during his eight years in the military as a grenade instructor. So much blame to be shared for this tragedy.

[Submariner]

I was reading the Bangor Daily News articles about the hearings. I thought it interesting that his supervisors all saw he had issues, and they each fulfilled their job responsibilities by reporting that he had issues. The system failed in his case.

A relative said that all firearms were going to be removed, but nobody checked up to verify such had happened. When deputies stopped at his house for a 'welfare check' they knocked on his door and left.

I worked as an MP for six years, and I can see that happening. As a 'welfare check' you are concerned if he is incapacitated and needs help. But without probable cause Law Enforcement can not break into a house. If they can not see his body lying on the floor through a window. There is nothing else the deputies can do.

He was escorted to a mental health facility and after 2 weeks he was released. But there was no follow up.

His unit was told that the had problems, but the unit is Reservists [part-timers] they train one weekend a month and two weeks every summer. Otherwise they are civilians. They would likely only see him once a month. They have no authority to confine him.

I have apartments. Some of my tenants are veterans. We have seen a couple of times when tenants have checked themselves into a mental health facility. Each time it happens, we praise the tenant for being so responsible.

It is terrible that people have died.

These hearings are needed as they shine light on our system and where our system has its holes, what can be done to fix these holes.

[Jellybean50]

Originally Posted by Last1Standing

https://archive.ph/HCB9m


He had severe damage from high exposure to blasts during his eight years in the military as a grenade instructor. So much blame to be shared for this tragedy.

Yes there is. Very sad.

[mainegrl2011]

Helping (physical health, mental health, housing, etc.) veterans especially those who are "damaged" while serving our country should be a top priority of the United States (Congress, President, State Legislatures, Governors, City and County governments) imo.

[mainegrl2011]

I have several questions:

What should have been the next steps after Card's supervisors reported his issues?

Whose responsibility was it to remove Card's firearms from his possession?

Who escorted Card to a mental health facility?

Why was he in the mental health facility for only two weeks?

Whose responsibility was it to follow up after he was released from the mental health facility?

What is the process for having Card's firearms removed after his family contacted the police?

[mainegrl2011]

Perhaps the state and federal governments need to invest in mental health facilities and in training additional mental health professionals. Seems to be a shortage.

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by mainegrl2011

I have several questions:

What should have been the next steps after Card's supervisors reported his issues?

If these were Active Duty servicemembers it would have been his command.

During my 20-year Active Duty career, I have seen what happens when a servicemember experiences a mental breakdown. While submerged, our doc would use 'medical restraints' [tranqs] to restrain him to his bunk. Then once a day, let him up to use the restroom, eat a meal, walk around the boat to talk to all the watchstanders, and then return to his bunk to be 'restrained' again. Once we surface the servicemember would be transferred strapped in a stretcher to a different command, who in theory has a mental facility on contract. I have never served at any command that had a mental facility.

Since these were reservists, it would not have been a topic until the next month's training session. The only people who would have had jurisdiction over Card as a civilian would be civilian Law Enforcement.
So your answer is the deputies who knocked on his door as a part of a 'wellness check', from what I understand their department policy DOES NOT require that they actually meet with him to assess his mental stability, nor to confiscate his firearms. And I doubt that their training has certified them in any capacity to assess mental stability.

... Whose responsibility was it to remove Card's firearms from his possession?

Good question, no body.

... Who escorted Card to a mental health facility?

From what I read two of his co-workers escorted him.

... Why was he in the mental health facility for only two weeks?

That was not answered. I suspect an answer to that would be bogged down by 'doctor - patient' confidentiality.

... Whose responsibility was it to follow up after he was released from the mental health facility?

Since the issue was noted by his military supervisors, It would have been a topic at his command, during their next monthly training session.

... What is the process for having Card's firearms removed after his family contacted the police?

I do not think that any such 'process' currently exists.

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by 7th generation

And this is why ex pro football players routinely commit mass murders-not! It was a failure first and foremost of Card, secondly his family had interactions with him that truly alarmed them to the point they contacted police with their concerns. And lastly the military who knew he was a powder keg and yet did absolutely nothing. These "interpretations" of his brain autopsy are whimsical fantasies by the state of Maine to ward off incoming lawsuits by the families of the victims.
We have no more mental facilities to store the most likely to harm citizens and the waiting list to see licensed clinicians is months long.

"Junior Seau, 43, Waters, 44, and Dave Duerson, 50, were all found to have C.T.E. after their deaths by suicide, as were Jovan Belcher, 25, a linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs who killed his girlfriend before shooting himself in 2012; Aaron Hernandez, 27, a former New England Patriots tight end who died by suicide after being convicted of a 2013 murder; and Phillip Adams, 32, an N.F.L. defensive back who shot and killed six people in April 2021 before dying by suicide..."

https://www.nytimes.com/article/cte-...20by%20suicide

[Submariner]

I am certain that at April's training his command will schedule a discussion on how to prevent a reoccurrence. So at May's training they can host a discussion, and maybe at June's training, they will decide on how to implement prevention.