Cops put mentally ill man on bus-ride, charge him with escaping prison

http://www.alternet.org/cops-put-mentally-ill-man-one-way-bus-ride-florida-then-charged-him-escape

Excerpts:

"On April 22, Adam Horine was ordered by a Kentucky court to undergo a mental evaluation at Eastern State Hospital in Lexington."

...

"The court gave Carrollton police specific orders to transport Horine to the Eastern State Hospital the next day. However, the Carrollton police department would not obey that court order.

Instead of bringing him to the hospital to get him treatment, police purchase Horine a one-way ticket to West Florida, 900 miles away.

Officer Ron Dickow drove him 50 miles in a police cruiser to Louisville. Arriving at the Greyhound terminal downtown before dawn, Dickow bought Horine a one-way bus ticket to Florida with money provided by the chief.

Dickow forked over the change — about $18 — to Horine. Then he sent the emotionally troubled man on a 28-hour solitary bus ride to the Sunshine State’s west coast."

...

"“And to have a police officer come in and simply say, ‘No, we’re not having him get a mental-health evaluation, you’re just getting out of here. You’re too much trouble. We don’t want you here. You’re leaving.’ I’m sorry, that’s not allowed,” Harris said. “They don’t have the power to do that.”"

...

"As if disobeying a court order and putting a mentally ill man on a bus to a strange place wasn’t enough, when Horine was eventually brought back to Kentucky he was charged with second-degree escape; a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

The arrest warrant stated that Horine left the jail and fled Kentucky “by bus, with the full knowledge that he was under court order to be transported to Eastern State Hospital.”"