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Son of US Sen. Kevin Cramer crashes during police chase, killing North Dakota sheriff's deputy (www.dailykos.com)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The 42-year-old son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer crashed into a North Dakota sheriff's vehicle during a police chase, pushing it into a deputy and killing him, according to authorities and the ...

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Well this seems like a bad situation all around. I hope he gets the help he needs, poor guy. I guess it's up to the courts to establish whether he's mentally competent or not.

"The first-term senator wrote that his son “suffers from serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations.” Earlier Wednesday, Ian Cramer insisted on “going to his brother Ike,” who died in 2018, according the statement, which doesn't further explain what that means. As a result, the senator's wife, Kris, took Ian Cramer to the Sanford Health emergency room in Bismarck.

When Kris Cramer got out of the family's Chevrolet Tahoe, Ian Cramer got into the driver's seat and drove off, Kevin Cramer said. The senator's daughter tracked the SUV through a cellphone and alerted the authorities."

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

So they called the cops on a mentally ill man suffering from paranoia and having some sort of feeling around his dead brother?

Seems like a recipe for disaster. This is 100% why cops shouldn't be the go-to solution for non-compliance.

[–] Eylrid 6 points 11 months ago

We need a dedicated mental health emergency response department. Police are not the right people to deal with mental crises.

A situation like this, though, where he was behind the wheel of a vehicle is really tough. He was a danger to himself and others. How do you handle that?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

You make it sound like they had an alternative.

Their options were basically to either call the police or just do nothing and hope it all worked out fine. The former puts lives at risk because of how negligent the police are, but the latter is also negligent and potentially puts lives at risk.

There wasn't some other party they could call to try and intervene. It was cops or bust.

Cops shouldn't be the only solution, but the reality is that they are. The choice to call them was the more responsible one even if the police themselves make little effort to behave responsibly.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Speaking from personal experience, it’s often very difficult to get someone into treatment unless they’re either so far gone (unresponsive, or immediately obvious they’re not living in reality) that a doctor will sign off on it, or someone gets hurt and the justice system can act instead

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

As it should be.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The “immediately obvious they’re not living in reality” criteria is much dumber than you think. Someone can be delusional but because they can agree on basic facts, they’ll be released.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

That's not enough.