Screen Shot 2023-10-04 at 6.23.07 PM.png
How officials handled mental health concerns days before MPD officer-involved shootingHow officials handled mental health concerns days before MPD officer-involved shooting Three days before Mobile Police officers shot and killed 24-year-old Chris Jones, his mother filed a petition for involuntary commitment.
The petition states Jones was schizophrenic, off his medicine and acting erratically. Jones' mother also told the court her son had a gun. Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis says an AltaPointe Health employee helped his mother file the petition and that the employee notified AltaPointe's crisis team. AltaPointe says it sent a mental health evaluator out shortly after the petition was filed Friday afternoon, but Jones was not home and could not be located. "They went back a second time on Saturday morning, and they did find him. And they said he was okay at that point in time. And they were going to try to follow up with him again on Monday,” said Davis. AltaPointe says the crisis team met with Jones Saturday and encouraged voluntary treatment, but he declined. Shortly after seven o'clock Monday morning, Mobile Police encountered Jones on top of a roof at a vacant home on Glenwood Street. Officers shot and killed him after they say he came off the roof and pointed a shotgun at them. “I don't want to lay blame on anybody. I mean, it's a very tragic situation. But it just points, to me, it points to the fact that people need to be paying attention. If you've got to love on that is seriously mentally ill you need to make certain they're taking their meds,” said Davis. Davis says he did not see the petition Jones' mother filed Friday but would have if the family had also requested emergency detention. "The mother could have said, I think this is an emergency situation, he needs to be immediately detained. She didn't do that. That’s something AltaPointe would tell them, should tell them about when they’re helping them,” said Davis. AltaPointe did not address why that request was not made in a statement provided to NBC 15 News. AltaPointe says due to patient privacy protections, the agency is limited in what it can say. Friday was the third time Jones' mother tried to have her son committed. Davis says Jones was detained at EastPointe Hospital in December 2022. On May 23rd, 2023, Davis says a second petition was filed. Davis says AltaPointe evaluated Jones and determined he did not present aggressive or paranoid behavior. That case was dismissed on August 23rd, 2023. "They recommended that the case be dismissed because they believed that he was going to follow through voluntarily. Well, we now know in hindsight, he did not follow up voluntarily. Well, why didn’t AltaPointe do something about it? They knew he was schizophrenic and in the community. AltaPointe could have brought a petition to the court as well," said Davis.
Trending
A gorgeous April afternoon in store across the Denver metro area 
‘Artemis Mission Cannot Lead To Interplanetary Wild West,’ Astronomer Warns 
Trump says US forces will ‘finish the job’ soon in first prime-time speech since starting Iran war 
Former Wisconsin football player, who left the sport amid mental health struggles, dead at 24 
Drew McIntyre Gives Honest Take About His Recent WWE Title Reign 
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders introduces bill that could keep the Padres in San Diego