AAP General News (Australia)
08-22-2007
NSW: "Drug affected" man may have been schizophrenic
SYDNEY, Aug 22 AAP - An apparently drug-crazed man who allegedly attacked two Sydney
police officers and was subdued with the help of passers-by told a witness he suffered
from schizophrenia.
Police said it took up to 10 passers-by to restrain the 25-year-old man after he became
violent and aggressive at the Family Car Centre dealership in Chester Hill, in Sydney's
west, yesterday.
Two female constables tried unsuccessfully to subdue the man with capsicum spray and
police suspect he was affected by the illegal drug ice.
Police said the man allegedly assaulted the officers and tried to remove a gun from
the holster of one constable.
The other officer was pushed into a parked car, hitting her head and dropping her baton,
which the man then picked up and used to try to strike her before being restrained, police
said.
Family Car Centre owner Tony Rosano said the man told him he suffered from schizophrenia
and was discharged from a mental health facility three weeks ago.
The man had become agitated after being rejected for finance for a car. He used a phone
at the car dealership to call the mental health facility to ask that they come and pick
him up because he had run out of medication.
"The guy actually told us and we heard him speaking to the mental home, saying that
he was a schizophrenic and was out of medication," Mr Rosano said.
"They (the mental health facility) refused and that made him irate."
Earlier today, Bankstown Local Area Commander, Superintendent Dave Darcy, said ice
was a challenging drug for police to deal with.
"This (yesterday's incident) is one of those cases where there's spontaneous aggression
that is quite challenging for police to control," he told Southern Cross Broadcasting.
"We're finding with ice, that sometimes capsicum spray doesn't do anything."
AAP kjd/hn/sp
KEYWORD: OFFICERS SCHIZOPHRENIC
2007 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.
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