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Tom Henry: Officer's death highlights need for better mental health programs

The Blade - 1/25/2021

Jan. 24—It seemed like we were here only yesterday.

Toledo is mourning another fallen police officer, Brandon Stalker, just like it mourned the shooting death of Officer Anthony Dia last July, Detective Keith Dressel in 2007, and others in the past.

It hurts.

Let it out.

Tom Henry

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I'm going to say something I hope doesn't sound offensive, because it's not meant to be that at all.

Mental illness is a real thing, and as a society, we must do more about it.

We need to support mental illness programs that are more effective, and I'm not just talking about throwing more money at the problem.

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We need to support mental illness programs to salvage lives: those of the mentally ill, those of the friends and family members they affect, and — as important as anyone — those of our police officers.

I'm convinced mental illness is at the root of many of society's problems.

Many of the cops I've gotten to know over the years agree our streets here and elsewhere would be a whole lot safer if we, as a society, were better at helping the mentally ill.

Ask the National Association of Mental Illness and you'll find out it's not a low-income problem.

In this Feb. 20, 2012 photo, U.S. Sen. John Glenn talks with astronauts on the International Space Station via satellite.

Tom Henry

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Chances are you know someone who battles mental illness and don't know it.

Or, just as likely, the person suffering from mental illness doesn't know he or she is impacted by it, or doesn't seek treatment.

According to NAMI, mental illness will continue to be an underlying problem in many facets of our lives until society gets over the stigma of it and addresses it more effectively.

I obviously don't know how much of Officer Stalker's death should be attributed to the mental illness of Christopher Harris, the 27-year-old who shot him.

I am not at all trying to make excuses.

But we now know he was mentally ill.

So what do we do about it?

We know most mentally ill people, thank goodness, don't fire a weapon at police officers.

But mental illness is not about rational thinking.

When it takes hold, it can be all about inexplicable rage. Those affected by it can lose control like automobiles going from 0 to 60 mph in a split second.

They snap.

We all lose our temper at times, but the frequency, duration, and unpredictability of some people with mental illness is much more intense.

Do we need better psychiatrists, better caseworkers, better health-care systems, and more affordable insurance?

Yes to all of those and more.

But this isn't the time to point fingers and second-guess one another.

Officer Stalker's death is a tragedy, and we should mourn it.

He leaves behind a fiancee, Ashley Ohmer; a 7-year-old daughter, Kennah Miller, and a son, Grayson Stalker, born only three months ago.

He was a public servant who deserved better.

But if you know families affected by mental illness, your heart is likely aching for Crystal Harris, the shooter's mother.

She has told investigators she knew her son had mental health issues, but she was powerless to do anything about it.

He refused treatment, as many people with mental illness do.

Perhaps the most God-awful, helpless feeling a parent can have is seeing a son or daughter struggle mentally or physically — and being unable to help.

We can speculate what prompted Harris to deface the exterior of Toledo's iconic Rosary Cathedral, and why his rage escalated so quickly as to aim his weapon and pull the trigger.

Right or wrong, Toledo Police Chief George Kral had his reason for not letting Harris' mother enter his house in the 2200 block of Fulton Street and try coaxing him out peacefully.

"There is no way on God's green Earth that I'm going to let someone into a barricaded house where we know the suspect has a weapon and he has made homicidal threats on Facebook," Chief Kral said. "I just cannot put her in that predicament."

It's not my place to second-guess whether it was the right call. A decision had to be made, and I have no doubt the police chief was convinced he was doing the right thing.

But another tragedy here is that Crystal Harris will likely carry that burden around with her for the rest of her life, wondering if she could have made a difference.

That's powerful stuff.

We can debate if Crystal's son was a victim of circumstances beyond his control, and whether Chief Kral should have let her put her own life at risk in a valiant effort to help.

But we can't deny the reality of this:

Mental illness is a real thing and, as a society, we must do more about it.

Over a career that has spanned nearly four decades, Tom Henry has written wacky, weird, funny, sad, heartbreaking, soulful, serious, and even some inspirational stories. He created The Blade's environment-energy beat in 1993 and, on occasion, riffs about jazz and blues. He also likes big, sloppy dogs.

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