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City Club Missoula – Police Chief: Death a disastrous collision of police, mentally ill

February 10, 2009 /

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Missoula Police Chief Mark Muir said Monday that the December shooting of a schizophrenic man in a city park represents the most disastrous of collisions at the intersection of police and the mentally ill.

“It doesn’t get any worse than that, for the officers, for the person involved and for the community,” Muir said in an interview that followed his remarks on the same topic to City Club Missoula http://www.cityclubmissoula.org . “Those situations are just so unfortunate for everyone involved.”

Muir, Missoula County Sheriff Mike McMeekin and St. Patrick Hospital’s Joyce Dombrowski spoke at City Club’s noon meeting, but their comments steered clear of particulars and focused more on the larger issue of mental illness in the community.

“It’s so widespread,” Muir said.

Listen to audio highlights from Monday’s City Club forum. http://www.missoulian.com/123-2009/CityClub020909.php

By MICHAEL MOORE of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2009/02/10/news/local/news03.txt

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