Incidents

Posted on December 12, 2006 in Bipolar Disorder Violence

Seventeen-year-old Andre Patterson is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 31-year-old Kimani Muhammad.Prosecutors say Patterson allegedly strangled Muhammad in their cell in a maximum-security wing on Tuesday.During yesterday’s bail hearing, public defender Kevin Foster said Patterson suffers from bipolar disorder. He said jail officials contacted family members a day before the attack, asking for permission to medicate Patterson.Patterson had been at the jail on a charge of aggravated battery with a firearm. Authorities say he is accused of shooting two people outside a Calumet City barbershop.

Never let a bipolar have a gun. Either he will brandish it carelessly or, more likely, he will use it on himself. And never squash a bipolar into a shared room from which there is no exit. When there is no escape, the bipolar will resort to desperate measures. Was Kimani Muhammad just an innocent victim? I doubt it. I suspect that in some way he threatened Patterson. Patterson, having no escape, resorted to his hands.

We must remember when we see a report such as this — or this — that it is of the minority of cases. Violence is not the norm for our kind, except when we cannot escape our persecutors. This explains the high suicide rate.