My run in with a psychopath

I've tried to avoid reading much about the Sandy Hook tragedy because, having kids in that age group, it's just too hard to read about. The only question I want answered is the one that probably never will, why.
The last few days though has had me re-living my run in with a psychopath of this magnitude.
I was teaching at a high school that was known for taking the worst of the worst. More than a few of our students had tethers, we had weekly parole officer visits, canine drug sweeps a few times a year and so on. But there was one student, quiet, kinda weird, but overall, I thought he was nice, if a bit misunderstood. So, I asked if he'd like to joint the race team I was coaching (autocross and drag, not something boring like track haha). He was happy to. I picked him up and took him to the track because his mom usually worked and dad was, who knows where. He met my wife and newborn son. My wife agreed he was kinda odd, but was nice and respectful.
He held an after-school job within the school. He'd clean up, take out the trash, organize the tools and such. Well, one day I was walking through the commons area and there was "Mike" (name changed because if he finds out I posted this, he'll shank me). He looked a bit 'off' but I dismissed it. I said "hey Mike, what's up? How's life?" He walked up to me, his hands and head were trembling. He walked to within 12" of me, face to face and, in the most agitated voice I've ever heard said "I know what you did!" I was kinda freaked out at this point, but if I followed my instinct (curling up in the corner, sucking my thumb) it could have been worse. So I just said "What do you mean Mike. What did I do?"
"I know what you did Mr. P. I saw what you did to your wife and I'm not going to let you get away with it!!! I saw what you did to your wife Mr. P. There's no way in $&&$ you're getting away with that #&!!!"
What really freaked me out was I was staring into his eyes but it was like looking into the windows of a vacant house. His pupils were HUGE, big, empty black holes with just a slight ring of blue around them. But there was nothing there. Nobody was home. I don't know how to describe it except that I was looking into a being with no soul. "Mike" wasn't home.
At this point he was yelling and I was looking for the best escape plan. If I went back into my classroom I'd have no way of escape, and I'd be out of the commons area. If I went into the auto shop there'd be all kinds of weapons around, I didn't know if he had one already. I didn't want to go to the office area because there were only older women up there, if they tried anything, it could end bad, really bad. I didn't want to be out of the commons area since it was public and I was hoping somebody was going to show up before he pushed a screwdriver into my neck.
"I SAW YOU KILL YOUR WIFE. YOU BURIED HER UNDER THE PORCH. YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET AWAY WITH IT. I KNOW WHAT YOU DID!!"
At this point Mr. E came out. He's a 6'4" 385 lb. biker. He grabbed Mike from behind. Just about the same time, Mr. M came out and grabbed Mike as well. The two men, more than 500 lbs. worth couldn't contain Mike. I pushed tables and chairs between myself and Mike figuring soon he'd be subdued. This little dude, shorter than me and stocky, was still moving toward me with well over 500 lbs. trying to hold him back. It took a third grown man to get Mike to the ground. They stayed on top of him until the paramedics came and gave him a shot, then strapped him to a board. Then they hauled him to the hospital.
The school social worker just said that there may have been a conflict between his new anti-psychosis meds and his schitzo meds.
Good lord! I'm glad he was on meds but man! This kid was on the knife-edge of bat $E36 M3 crazy every day and he only saw a doc when there was an "episode"?!? Really? How about if that episode included killing me, or a school full of kids?

That's it really. I posted just to tell the story.

Damn, and he knows where you live too. I'd buy a shotgun for your wife. Lots of weirdos around.

Over the weekend, I said that we need to go back to institutionalizing the insane/disturbed. It's reaching critical mass and they seem to be able to get their hands on guns very easily.

Scary stuff.

20 years ago a guy I managed went south and started threatening another dude and said he would shoot him up and stuff him into our sandblaster. So he left and I figured I would check in with the police.

They knew him well and that he had a couple of guns but never with him when they pulled him over. So I fired him and never saw him again. Some days I wonder.......

This is kind of interesting:

http://anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.com/

In reply to Woody:

Dude, that was a hard read. Hard.

Woody wrote: This is kind of interesting: http://anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.com/

That's what prompted me to post. Her description of his eyes, man it made the hairs on my neck stand up. EXACTLY how I thought of my "Mike" looking. I've been in some situations before, the only one that scared my that much was having a gun pulled on me in my own house. At least with that situation I knew what kind of person I was dealing with. In these situations, there's no way of knowing.

A doctor friend of mine connected me to this post, which should be read after the one above.

Clicky

As a kid, I had a brother like "Michael". I got that same "hairs on neck" feeling as Dr. Boost.

Woody wrote: This is kind of interesting: http://anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.com/

I've worked with kids like Michael. I don't anymore, I traded that for a cushy cubicle, which I then traded for unemployment. It gets frickin SCARY when these kids get lit. What's even scarier is, you don't know what to do to help them, no one does. I however still stand by my previous assessment. Fits of rage are largely different than what appears to have been a very calculated effort to make a statement. I've had a kid come after me with a knife before- but I knew what to expect. Disarming him wasn't difficult. I don't know that the Sandy kid would have been the same scenario.

peter wrote: A doctor friend of mine connected me to this post, which should be read after the one above. Clicky As a kid, I had a brother like "Michael". I got that same "hairs on neck" feeling as Dr. Boost.

I totally agree with his #6

6) You are NOT Adam Lanza’s mother. The sort of quasi-solidarity expressed in “We are [oppressed people]” or “I am [dead person]” appropriates the experiences of people who are unheard, in this case the victim of a mass homicide, and uses that to bolster a narrative that doesn’t even attempt to discover or represent the experiences of those they claim to speak for. Don’t do that.

but #3 annoys me....it simply doesn't matter. I don't think the average person cares to differentiate between the unstable person having "personality problems" and them having "active psychotic symptoms." Those sorts of distinctions and DSM definitions are best left to the clinician; the average person just wants to be safe.

I saw a program (maybe 20/20 minutes?) on psychopathic children. It was very disturbing. To see parents who were honestly afraid their 8 year old little girl would appear in their room with a knife was very freaky. Also hearing that little girl talk about how she needs to ignore the voices that tell her to do horrible things...

I stumbled across a book, "The Sociopath Next Door" by Martha Stout. I picked it up mostly as a joke, but it became serious quickly. According to the author, 1 in 25 people has no conscience at all. It does explain much of the behavior I run across almost daily. There are way too many friggin' crazy people running loose in the world.

I have a significant family history of mental illness. Not to freak anyone out, but there are a lot of sick people around you every day. There are a lot of calls currently to start committing more people. Having had this happen to a few people close to me, I'm not sure how I feel about that. Being committed is a lot like going to jail in some ways. Like jail, the people on the inside are different and scary and you can't go in without being profoundly affected by them. Like jail, you run the risk of damaging the person far more than you may help them.
We have a pretty well though out system for putting people in prison, even if we don't agree on it all of the time. Mental and illness is different though. We're not judged by a jury of our peers for what we've done, we're often judged by one guy for symptoms that indicate that we might do something. It might not sound like a huge distinction, but if you're 18 and committed by your family because you're likely to hurt yourself, and you find yourself with people who are having true psychotic episodes, you're going to have a bad time.
This is a discussion that we need to have as a society. We need to decide to what extent the rights of a society to not be harmed overrule the rights of the mentally I'll. We also need to decide what to do with those people that we decide need to be dealt with. Clearly, we're not doing what needs to be done now.

My old Karate instructor was an MP in Vietnam. He had stories about hopped-up, battle-worn Marines that 6 MPs couldn't subdue. A rifle butt to the head would do nothing. The human body is an amazing thing.

And then there's all the comments about how no one ever saw it coming. He/She was the nicest person, etc., etc.

There is no perfect system, these guys don't wear signs that say I'm going to kill someone someday.

How do you put them in jail for something they are going to do?

I'm for institutionalization, it will get a lot of the homeless people off the streets and is better than handouts to make you feel better about yourself (cause it isn't really about helping the homeless).

But as with all things, which ones go and which ones stay on the streets?

But I'm against mainstreaming special ed kids too. It just slows everyone else down. The teacher has to teach to the slowest one of the group or else ignore them totally. Neither option is good.

BTDT with the schizophrenia thing. I discovered just how many barriers there are to forcing someone to get the help they need, not just having them committed. Given how badly that was abused over the years it's understandable, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with.

I know I have mentioned that I don't mess with any medication my doctor hadn't specifically told me to take (including over-the-counter meds with the exception of cough drops).

Well the other morning due to a medication complication, I woke up and didn't remember how to get ready for work. I'll be doing a sleep study next month.

After a few tries, I figured things out and went to work without a problem.

Don't berkeley with drugs.

N Sperlo wrote: Well the other morning due to a medication complication, I woke up and didn't remember how to get ready for work. After a few tries, I figured things out and went to work without a problem.

A bloody mary usually straightens you right out.

pinchvalve wrote: My old Karate instructor was an MP in Vietnam. He had stories about hopped-up, battle-worn Marines that 6 MPs couldn't subdue. A rifle butt to the head would do nothing. The human body is an amazing thing.

I have witnessed this as a trainee cop, returned vet lost it in a factory, it took 8 cops to subdue him.

At the scene my first job, as the young junior cop, was to gather all the firearms and secure them before the guy was confronted.

He absolutely believed he was under attack by Vietcong troops.

Woody wrote: This is kind of interesting: http://anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.com/

My wife, a former special ed teacher, forwarded a link to that site last night. I am afraid our daughter may have a new step son that is going to be like this.

Big problem is that all the state hospitals that took care fo these types have been closed.