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Mental health experts react to viral video
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By David Taub, Senior Reporter
Published 7 years ago on
February 23, 2017

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The viral video has been seen on Facebook and You Tube more than 300,000 times. Earlier this month, police confronted a naked man walking in central Fresno. After not listening orders to stop, he is Tased.

Sources tell GV Wire the man had mental issues. We asked some mental health advocates their thoughts.

“It didn’t seem very dignified and it didn’t seem very respectful. You can’t know exactly what took place in that interaction. If that’s what the police said, that he was threatening, I take that with a grain of salt,” Dr. Juan C. Garcia, Clinical Program Director with the Integral Community Solutions Institute, tells GV Wire. “It just seems like overkill.”

Christina Roup is the executive director of NAMI- the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “The best practices (are) we want to see it de-escalate. If that was my family member, I would be crushed. I’m heartbroken that an individual had to be Tased. It seems so unfair. We see a man unclothed, nude, the most vulnerable in our…society.”

Both Roup and Garcia understand that only a snippet of the video exists and other factors may have been in play that is not shown on video.

There is a relatively new state law passed in 2015 to address police officer training when dealing with the mentally ill. AB 29 requires police instructors’ additional crisis intervention behavioral training on dealing with persons with mental illness or disability. It will be fully in effect by July 2017.

“I question all those officers whether they had been trained in crisis intervention,” opines Garcia. “Those who had been trained would deal with it differently.”

Roup says three steps are needed when police deal with the mentally ill: compassion, patience and time.  Garcia would prefer another method, either continued dialogue, calling in a mental health expert or the police using light force to guide the suspect in a police car or ambulance.

GV Wire asked repeatedly for a follow up response from Fresno Police. We will provide that when it becomes available. Mayor Lee Brand said he had not seen the video at the time GV Wire asked him about it.

E-mail David Taub

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David Taub,
Senior Reporter
Curiosity drives David Taub. The award-winning journalist might be shy, but feels mighty with a recorder in his hand. He doesn't see it his job to "hold public officials accountable," but does see it to provide readers (and voters) the information needed to make intelligent choices. Taub has been honored with several writing awards from the California News Publishers Association. He's just happy to have his stories read. Joining GV Wire in 2016, Taub covers politics, government and elections, mainly in the Fresno/Clovis area. He also writes columns about local eateries (Appetite for Fresno), pro wrestling (Off the Bottom Rope), and media (Media Man). Prior to joining the online news source, Taub worked as a radio producer for KMJ and PowerTalk 96.7 in Fresno. He also worked as an assignment editor for KCOY-TV in Santa Maria, California, and KSEE-TV in Fresno. He has also worked behind the scenes for several sports broadcasts, including the NCAA basketball tournament, and the Super Bowl. When not spending time with his family, Taub loves to officially score Fresno Grizzlies games. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Taub is a die-hard Giants and 49ers fan. He graduated from the University of Michigan with dual degrees in communications and political science. Go Blue! You can contact David at 559-492-4037 or at Send an Email

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