Brett Ewins hospitalised by police

[Noisybast]

Great stuff. I particularly liked Boo's explanation of his choice of sketch.

Is that really Brett's Dredd in Simon Gurr's piece? It looks a lot like Cliff Robinson.

[Steve Green]

Those are fab.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Only just read this thread. Very sad for everyone involved, both Brett and the copper.  Obviously nobody should stab a cop and you can't really blame them for taking down an armed and violent man, but like Tordelback said Brett is one of ours; I feel like I've grown up with him and whether rightly or wrongly I can't help feeling more worried about what happens to him.

I've also been an occasional sufferer of excruciating, crippling depression myself in the past - I'm working on fixing it permanently now.  I do a bit of writing and drawing too and to be honest I'm not sure if it's absolutely essential to the creative process; I still like writing and drawing though most of the mental health issues are in my past now.  Maybe it helps to have had it, I don't know.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Just read that second newspaper article properly and want to amend what I said in the previous post.  While it's understandable that the police would subdue someone attacking them, those injuries seem more than a bit excessive than is necessary to inflict on a 56-year-old man with mental (and physical, judging by his recent interview in the Megazine) health issues.

[Kudos]

Some shocking and depressing news about how Brett Ewins has been treated by the Police... http://tonyvwright.tumblr.com/post/18909727661/brett-ewins

[TordelBack]

This just gets worse.  Remanded in Wormwood Scrubs with no access to his medication?  Jesus, is this really appropriate for someone in his position?

[The Legendary Shark]

What can we do to help?

[Emperor]

This is all grim news, no matter what he did he is ill (physically and mentally), so needs treatment.

What can we do to help?

Spread the word? Pass the link around to comic news sites and see if you can get the mainstream media interested - it is a good hook to hang an investigation of the treatment of the mentally ill in the prison system on so it could be there'd be some interest in this. That is what I'm doing anyway.

[The Legendary Shark]

How about a letter-writing campaign? If enough of us write to the governor of Wormwood Scrubs asking after Brett's situation and demanding that he have full and unfettered access to the medical care he needs - maybe that would have a positive effect.

[TordelBack]

Perhaps the first port of call would be to contact his family and close friends to establish their wishes in the matter, before embarking on any kind of campaign however well-meaning.  Who would have a point of contact for his brother, for example?  Rufus, maybe?

His MP Steve Pound seemed to know Brett, maybe he would be someone to approach about the matter, but I presume the family have tried that already.

[Emperor]

Perhaps the first port of call would be to contact his family and close friends to establish their wishes in the matter, before embarking on any kind of campaign however well-meaning.  Who would have a point of contact for his brother, for example?  Rufus, maybe?

His MP Steve Pound seemed to know Brett, maybe he would be someone to approach about the matter, but I presume the family have tried that already.

Good points. It'd make sense for only one person to do the contacting, so they don't get swamped (going via Rufus might be the best idea). Any volunteers?

It might also be worth sending get well cards to cheer Brett up.

[Judo]

Hmm this is a very complicated issue. I work with people with mental health issues and without a lot of behavioural strategies training, support plans, risk assessments and general time spent with someone, it is near impossible to adequately cope with any kind of challenging or threatening behaviour. I do not condone the use of excessive force in any arrest but i do understand that from the polices point of view there was a guy with a knife launching himself at them - people with mental health issues are usually unnaturally strong as they do not hold anything back - and he could have quite easily done a lot more damage than he did. I love brett as much as the rest of you and I hope Brett gets the treatment he needs to stop anything like this happening again x

[vzzbux]

Locked up inside a nick without proper care and medication isn't going to to him any favours. If it really is as bad as it looks then someone's balls are going to be dragged across some very hot coals.




V

[Judo]

most of the worrying parts of this story are social works responsibility rather than the police. For example, did brett have a care worker staying with him who had a support plan and who could explain to the police? Did brett have history of this kind of behaviour (he more or less did didn't he?) and if so why did he have access to knives? Did the police have a note of his mental health issues on record? Its unfair to say that the police should have known that he required care or medication. It always saddens me to hear someone has slipped through the social work net and am not always impressed by the way they run although they do work hard and 'make do' with limited time and resources x

[IndigoPrime]

My take on the stories I've read (and on balance) is that he ultimately got taken down for attacking a copper. Whether the use of force was excessive or not remains to be seen, but it's what can happen in such situations. However, it's what happened afterwards that I find more appalling: moved from hospital care without the family being informed; dragged into the dock in a hospital dressing gown while clearly not being of sound mind; locked up without access to medicine. If these reports are true, then his treatment has been shocking, and I also wonder if elements of it are actionable if a lawyer were to get involved.