ALBANY – State Senator George Borrello is asking his legislative colleagues to pass the New York State Mental Health Reform Act before the close of session.
The bill would expand the standard for involuntary hospitalization and strengthen the state’s mental health intervention efforts,
Borrello is a sponsor of the bipartisan bill with state Sen. Diane Savino, a Democrat from Staten Island.
“The warning signs that the Buffalo shooter was off-balance and potentially dangerous were there,” said Borrello, a bipartisan bill sponsor with state Sen. Diane Savino, D-Staten Island. “His erratic behavior by him included wearing a hazmat suit to school and comments that he wanted to commit a murder-suicide. There are likely to be many other signs as well that have yet to come to light.”
Borrello said the May 14 Tops mass shooting on Jefferson Avenue in Buffalo, in which 10 people were killed and three others wounded, “was becoming very familiar.”
“Deeply troubled people continue to fall through the cracks in the system, with tragic consequences,” Borrello said.
Authorities have called the shooting a “racially motivated attack.” The shooter was indicted by an Erie County grand jury and remains in jail.
“While we all want to do everything we can to prevent another tragedy, predictable calls for stricter gun control laws will not be enough. Our current laws, the toughest in the nation, did not stop Lashawn McNeil from using a stolen gun to kill two NYPD officers. They didn’t stop Simon Martial from pushing Michelle Go onto the subway tracks. And they didn’t stop 18-year-old Payton Gendron from legally buying a gun and then modifying it.
illegally,” Borrello said in a press release. “What may have made the difference in these cases was an effective mental health intervention for the perpetrators, who had a history and/or symptoms of serious mental illness.”
Police knew about Gendron because he had previously threatened to shoot up his Broome County high school, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
New York State Police said troopers were called to Susquehanna High School in Conklin last June after receiving a report that a 17-year-old had made threatening statements.
Police said the student was detained under a state mental health law and taken to a hospital for evaluation.
“Tragically, there is no way to turn back the clock. What we can do, however, is strengthen our mental health intervention tools to reduce future risks of another devastating incident. Continuing to ignore the problem only ensures that there will continue to be tragedies that could have been prevented.”
In March, Savino and Borrello introduced legislation that would expand the standard for involuntary hospitalization by allowing consideration of additional factors, including credible reports of recent violent or threatening conduct. The legislation would also strengthen Kendra’s Law by allowing longer hospital stays for those who violate assisted outpatient treatment (AOT) orders.
“While none of us can know for sure what would or would not have prevented this horrific and brutal attack, what we can almost guarantee is that unless we strengthen our state’s mental health interventions and resources, there will be more senseless tragedies.” and loss of life. ”, said Senator Borrello. “While most people with mental illness are non-violent, a single dangerously ill person can cause massive calamity and death, as we know all too well.”
“Our proposal deserves to be part of any comprehensive plan aimed at closing the myriad gaps in our mental health laws. The failures of the system and its consequences have been getting worse in recent years, so it is imperative that we act now.”
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