Results tagged “schizophrenia”

The mother of the man accused of essentially shutting down LaGuardia Airport Saturday morning with his fake bomb spoke to the Daily News. Margie Jones said her 32-year-old son Scott McGann has catatonic schizophrenia, which the News says "leaves victims in a psychotic state where they're unable to speak, respond or even move." She added, "He's a not a kook.

The four men indicted on charges of a terrorist plot to blow up two Riverdale synagogues and shoot down military planes were arraigned today, pleading not guilty in a Westchester courtroom. Before the judge arrived, one of the defendants, Laguerre Payen, had to be removed from the court when his baggy pants fell down, exposing his boxer shorts. The Haitian-born Payen is a diagnosed schizophrenic, whose attorney said that he is illiterate and does not understand the charges against him. Payen told the judge, "I don't understand, like the stuff the courts talk about." A federal prosecutor said that Payen's behavior is an act, telling the court, "On April 28th, he is on a very clear recording talking about beating the case in a very sophisticated way. It's very different from the way he's talking now in an effort to mislead the court." The four men face life in prison if they are convicted of the eight-count indictment.

Nassau County police say that Kay Barragan, 65, was found dead in her Searingtown home yesterday morning and that her 38-year-old son Eduardo was charged with second-degree murder. Barragan was the estranged wife of 1-800-Mattress founder Napoleon Barragan; a company spokesman called it "a terrible tragedy for the family and for the company as well" and also added that Eduardo Barragan had a history of psychological problems. Police said the son was in his bedroom when they arrived.

Yesterday afternoon, police officers shot and wounded a subway panhandler after he stabbed a cop with a screwdriver. Apparently the panhandler first went to the undercover cops and asked for one a cigarette. The Post reports, "The 26-year-old officer [Tyrone Barrionuevo] flashed his badge and identified himself. Moments later, the crazed smoker pulled out the 6-inch screwdriver and tried to plunge it into the cop's chest near his shoulder." The incident occurred at the Utica Avenue subway station in Crown Heights.

Two psychiatrists have found David Tarloff, who killed an Upper East Side psychiatrist in February, unfit to stand trial. But the NY Times reports that his lawyer Bryan Konski wants a "more complete examination" by another court-appointed psychiatrist (two court-appointed psychiatrists made the unfit assessment), claiming that Tarloff "had been medicated before being examined." Konski is worried that his client, a schizophrenic who killed the office mate of the psychiatrist who diagnosed him with the illness 17 years ago (that psychiatrist was seriously injured in the attack), will be sent to a facility "where he would be medicated until he was found fit." Konski said his Tarloff, who is on suicide watch, is "a mess. Worse than I have ever seen him.”