A New York woman is suing the NYPD for putting her in a mental hospital against her will.
Kamilah Brock, 32, claims she was sitting behind the wheel of her 2003 BMW C25i at a red light when she was approached by an officer who asked her why she was driving without both hands on the wheel.
Brock told the officer she was dancing while sitting at the red light.
She was arrested and taken to the police precinct. Cops released her a few hours later with no charges.
According to Brock, police told her to come back the next day to pick up her car.
when she returned the next day, Brock claims police didn’t believe she drove a 2003 BMW.
“I told them I have a BMW they asked me what kind of car it was and from that moment they started looking at me differently like I could not have a BMW.”
But the police description of Brock’s behavior fits the symptoms of mania due to bipolar disorder. Police say Brock ran into traffic; her speech was rapid and pressured, and her thoughts were disordered.
Police officers are trained to recognize symptoms of psychosis to determine whether an individual is in danger of hurting herself or others.
If the person is determined to be a danger to themselves or others, the police fill out a 5150 involuntary hold form and the person is transported to a psychiatric facility.
Brock claims she was hospitalized because police didn’t believe she drove a 12 year old BMW or that President Obama was following her on Twitter.com (Obama follows over 640,000 people on Twitter).
While at the mental hospital, Brock was evaluated and diagnosed by trained doctors. She was given Lithium, a powerful antipsychotic used for the treatment of bipolar disorder.
This drug is not given randomly to anyone who has delusions of grandeur.
Lithium is administered by trained doctors and nurses who don’t care what kind of car a patient drives or who is following her on Twitter.com.
The fact that she was an inpatient for eight days is further evidence that she was mentally incapacitated.
Within 2 to 4 days of admittance on an involuntary hold, the patient goes before a judge who determines whether the patient should be released or remain under the care of a psychiatrist at a mental facility.
According to the Huffington Post:
Medical records also show that over the course of her eight-day stay, personnel at the hospital repeatedly tried to get Brock to deny three things before she could be released: that she owned the BMW, that she was a professional banker, and that President Barack Obama followed her on Twitter.
Brock’s lawyer claims she has “no history of mental illness.” But some people are diagnosed with bipolar disorder when they experience a psychotic break. They usually suffer from symptoms of the disorder for years until a psychotic break occurs and they are hospitalized.
