The report, not yet released, details the November 2013 stabbing of state Sen. Creigh Deeds by his mentally ill son, Gus, who subsequently took his own life. "If I had been writing it, it would have been out two months ago," Bevelacqua said in a phone interview with the Daily Press.
In his resignation letter, Bevelacqua objected to deletions from the report, including a reference to Department of Behavioral Health inaction following his 2012 report about failed temporary detention orders contributing to the incident, and Sen. Deeds' statement that the system had failed.
"The facts will remain. While accurate, they're not useful to policymakers," Bevelacqua said, citing the need to make the connection to "what should be," rather than simply "what is."
State Inspector General Michael Morehart said Bevelacqua's report would be released soon. "Maybe in a week, but I can't guarantee it. The report is effectively done," he said.
Morehart attributed its delayed release to an investigation by the Virginia State Police, who are looking into possible criminal charges. "I apologize for the delay. We were asked to hold off. We don't want to interfere with them," Morehart said.
Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for the Virginia State Police, said the criminal investigation is "parallel and separate from the OSIG's." She wasn't able to estimate a timeline for its completion, but said when it's finished it will be turned over to the commonwealth's attorney's office for consideration of any future action.
Full Article & Source:
Virginia mental health: Lawmakers have yet to see report on Deeds attack
What's the reason for the delay?
ReplyDeleteA rather ludicrous attempt at a cover up.
The General Assembly went out of session on March 8, 2014.
Mr. Bevelacqua's report, which should have been issued months ago, was censored and then delayed by top state officials, then rescheduled to come out the week AFTER the General Assembly went out of session.
Governor Terry McAuliffe thwarted that plan by calling the General Assembly into special session beginning tomorrow, March 24, 2014.
So now the report has to be delayed again, until AFTER the reconvened General Assembly session, and any excuse, no matter how lame, will do.
How much time would it take to investigate this incident?
The entire sequence of events, from its beginning on Sunday evening to its tragic end in Creigh Deeds' stabbing and Gus' death, took about twelve hours. It involved a deputy sheriff, a nurse at the hospital, a magistrate who issued an order, and a community services board employee who did not obey that order and simply call U.Va. to get a bed for Gus, which would have prevented a death and a stabbing.
By censoring and delaying this report, Virginia's mental health officials are only drawing attention to their continuing failure to correct the astounding, deliberate gaps in the delivery of inpatient and outpatient mental health services, including DBHDS and CSB failure to follow the law on involuntary commitments and failure to institute mandatory outpatient treatment.
These agencies are so used to operating in the dark and getting away with murder, they apparently think that this laughable attempt at a cover up will work in this high profile case.
Ladies and gentlemen, this case has been in the newspapers and on television. It will continue to draw public attention, no matter when you release your phony cover up of a report.
So you might as well go ahead and bite the bullet and get it over with.
Fix the problems, now. Or get swept out of office and de-funded the next time the General Assembly looks at this problem.
Surely there's something behind the scenes here.
ReplyDeleteStonewalling - cover ups - walls of protection funded by WE THE PEOPLE with no voice case after case after case shows a national pattern.
ReplyDelete