Posted on 08/27/2006 8:11:33 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Millions Sought By Parents Who Claim Officers Ignored Daughter's Mental Illness
(AP) CHICAGO -- Kathy Paine knew her 21-year-old daughter was in trouble.
Officials of the Chicago Police Department told her they had just released her from a women's holding facility into an unfamiliar neighborhood at night. Paine also knew her daughter's cell phone was dead, that she suffered from bipolar disorder and wasn't taking her medication.
"That whole evening I had some horrible visions. I pictured her getting kidnapped, raped, beaten to death," Paine told the Chicago Tribune, recalling the night of May 8 when she and her husband, both at home in California, tried to understand why police released their daughter despite their repeated warnings about her mental illness. "... And what happened was worse than anything I imagined."
Rick and Kathy Paine have filed a $100 million lawsuit against the city and the police department alleging officers ignored their pleas to help their daughter, Christina Eilman, get on a flight home. Eilman plunged seven stories from a Chicago building shortly after being released by police.
She now is under treatment in the brain-injury unit of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, the Tribune reported in its Sunday editions. An alleged gang member is charged with sexually assaulting her and holding her against her will.
Eilman is not expected to fully recover from injuries that included a crushed pelvis, fractured vertebrae, collapsed lungs, a shattered ankle, massive internal bleeding and bleeding on both sides of her brain. No one knows whether she jumped or was pushed from the seventh-floor window.
The Paines have moved into a temporary apartment so they can be close to their daughter. They agreed to talk to the Tribune in hopes their story will lead the police to change how it deals with mentally ill people, they said.
The Chicago Police Department is conducting an internal investigation of the 29 hours Eilman was in their custody. She was arrested on a train platform at Midway International Airport on May 7 for causing a disturbance.
The Paines believe their daughter was trying to get on a flight home they had booked for her. She recently had dropped out of college at UCLA and the Paines said they don't know how she got to Chicago.
Police declined to comment on details of the case because of the ongoing investigation and lawsuit.
"Litigious matters can be complicated," said police spokeswoman Monique Bond. "We wish her continued progress in her recovery."
The newspaper also interviewed women who were in cells adjoining Eilman's on May 7 and 8. They described Eilman's distress and said guards told her to shut up.
"I heard that girl screaming for her life, `Take me to the hospital. Call my parents,"' said Tamalika Harris, 26. "The way she was screaming and kicking on the bars, I knew something was wrong."
I honestly don't know what to make of this story.
Not enough info but I'm sure the police are at fault and the city will cough up millions of taxpayers' dollars./ sarc
A parent's worst nightmare.
The gaps cover more space than the information does.
It seems mostly an excuse to let the public know that the newspaper doesn't like the police.
This is a horrible story, but how accountable could the PD be, for this woman's failure to take her meds? Should they have held her for psych evaluation? Could they, if she wasn't charged with a crime?
There is really no safe place for the mentally ill in today's world.
But would much rather settle out of court for a tidy sum.
I'm not saying LE should have done otherwise....I don't know. She was in jail, 29 hours? Mom and Dad could have come and got her.
Most of the people that police deal with have some type of mental issue. The libs and the aclu have made it so the cops are hesitant to even deal with someone unless they have too. Forcibly put this woman into a mental hospital, they get sued and lose their jobs. Turn her loose and this happens.
From what I gather from reading the article is that the parents asked the police to help her get on a plane to get back home to them.
From the sound of it - the parents seem like people who would be willing to pay her fare...she just needed help to get on the plane safely.
Are the police supposed to act as babysitter for an adult woman because her parents say so? It's a terrible shame that they relied on others to safeguard their daughter instead of getting her themselves.
I would be more hesitant to criticize these parents (who, I'm sure, went through hell while their daughter was unaccounted for) but they don't have any problem criticizing the police for not doing a parent's job.
I doubt if she would have been allowed on a plane in her condition.
If the parents were assured by the police that they would, then there is a case, I'd think. If not, I don't see how there is.
I don't think it was that simple. If she was just off her meds and nutty, the police have no legal reason to take custody of her. If she were a danger to herself or others, they could have locked her in a hospital for 72 hours. I don't think there is a loophole in the law for "get the woman, transport her to the airport and place her on a plane back to her parents".
I did a quick search, but I'd almost swear this story was posted before. I notice that the accident/crime took place back in May. Seemed very familiar.
It's a shame about her fate, but then why didn't her family care more than I do?
She wasn't a minor, so parental notification would not be required, would it?
This story is such a load of BS. Trying to equate the hoked up disorder of bi polar to being mentally ill to elevate someone to a protected class. Typical Chgo dimocrat crap!
"This is a horrible story, but how accountable could the PD be, for this woman's failure to take her meds? Should they have held her for psych evaluation? Could they, if she wasn't charged with a crime?"
Remember that song "In the year 2525?" I don't think post-partum had been INVENTED yet. I don't think this "illness" had been invented yet. How in the world are these women surviving? Perhaps there is another question that needs to be explored, why are there so many more lawyers now? Do you think maybe they are inventing all this Bravo Sierra? I think so.
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