At the Henderson City Council meeting of Monday, May 12, 2008, Henderson City Council member Mary Emma Evans expressed concerns over how Henderson police officers handle suicides.
Specifically, she wondered if there was “special training” in place.
Although Evans based her discussion on an article by Reggie Ponder, a reporter for the Daily Dispatch, she was most likely referring to the murder of Samuel Crosson by Alvin Currin and Currin’s subsequent suicide that took place on April 30 of this year.
When Evans originally broached the subject, Henderson Mayor Pete O’Geary asked if it would be better to hand the issue over to the Public Safety Committee. Evans demurred, stating: “Maybe after the discussion”.
City Attorney Billy Strickland said that he had discussed the Dispatch with Henderson Police Chief K.L. Sidwell and had learned that there is police protocol to handle such situations. He also stressed that there are limits to what the police can do, and stated that “police protocol does not trump the Constitution”.
Strickland emphasized that police were unable to take [Currin] into custody because there were no grounds to do so. He went on to say that an appropriate action would have been for a family member to have Currin remitted to involuntary custody, something the police are not able to do.
Evans offered that perhaps the police should have some documentation to pass out to the family. She said that the family did not know what to do except call the police.
The council member said that if the family had had some type of information presented to them at the time of the crisis that they would have known how to handle the situation.
“Because they did not know what to do, we lost two of our finest citizens,” Evans said.
Council member Mike Rainey asked which family Evans was making reference to.
“The one that called the police,” Evans answered.
Member Garry Daeke told the council that the state’s mental health system is in a “crisis due to the legislature”. He suggested that perhaps officers could have this information in their cars and could coordinate with local mental health programs.
Evans said that she “feels responsible” that “we don’t have the information out”.
O’Geary designated Strickland and City Manager Ed Wyatt to handle the situation with Sidwell.