Mentally Ill Homeless Man Kills Pregnant New Orleans Cop
posted: February 2, 2008 | category: mental health
tags: homeless news, police
On Monday, January 28, 2008, police officer Nicola Cotton was patrolling New Orleans’ 6th district when she stopped a man who matched the description of a rape suspect. When she tried to handcuff him, the man, who was twice her size, attacked her, beating her with her own baton and then grabbing her service weapon and shooting her until there were no more bullets left in the gun. Cotton died at age 24. She was eight weeks pregnant.
Her killer was Bernel Johnson. He was not the rapist that authorities were looking for, although he shared the same name with the suspect. Johnson was homeless and mentally ill.
“…Mr. Johnson, 44, …had a long history of psychiatric problems, [and] was not supposed to be anywhere near that street or any other. Just three weeks earlier, on Jan. 4, the police “observed him to be mentally ill and dangerous to others,” said Dr. Jeffrey Rouse, the chief deputy coroner, who signed the papers committing Mr. Johnson to involuntary treatment.
He was sent to a state mental institution, to be confined until he was no longer a danger to himself or others. Somehow, for reasons that remain unclear, the institution released him before the shooting. Because of privacy laws, state officials are not saying which institution it was, or how the decision was made.
But the mental health system has been in chaos since Hurricane Katrina, and questions over these kinds of releases are adding to waves of grief, anger and fear that have swept over many in the city, even as it celebrates Mardi Gras.
James Arey, a psychologist and the commander of the Police Department’s crisis negotiation team, worked closely with the slain officer, Nicola Cotton, 24. He said Mr. Johnson appeared to have been improperly released from state care, even though he had allegedly threatened to kill police officers.
“The State of Louisiana had ample time to figure out this guy,”he said. “And because they weren’t doing their job, this officer, my friend, is dead.” (source)
Sickening. Tragic. Preventable. This makes me angry. Johnson was at a state institution — a place where professionals were supposed to help him. Instead, they failed him. Now Nicola Cotton and her baby are dead.
New Orleans is not the only place struggling with a broken mental health system.
Related video:
| Funeral for NOPD’s Nicola D. Cotton |
LORD, bring comfort and peace.
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