Wife of man killed at Miami airport says he was bipolar

[sabra]

http://www.katu.com/stories/81627.html

Wife of man killed at Miami airport says he was bipolar

MIAMI - An agitated passenger who claimed to have a bomb in his backpack was shot and killed by a federal air marshal Wednesday after he bolted frantically from a jetliner that was boarding for takeoff, officials said. No bomb was found.

It was the first time since the Sept. 11 attacks that an air marshal had shot at anyone, Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Doyle said. Another federal official said there was no apparent link to terrorism.

According to a witness, the passenger ran down the aisle of the Boeing 757, flailing his arms, while his wife tried to explain that he was mentally ill and had not taken his medication.

The passenger, identified as Rigoberto Alpizar, indicated there was a bomb in his bag and was confronted by air marshals but ran off the aircraft, Doyle said. The marshals went after him and ordered him to get down on the ground, but he did not comply and was shot when he apparently reached into the bag, Doyle said.

[NVMojo]

1. some idiot on the news tonight said there "was not nexus of terrorism"

present in this event. Fuck them.

[Erika]

2. Sky Marshalls 1- Innocent Passengers 0

Sure makes you feel safer. Not.

[distantearlywarning]

5. Although this is surely a tragedy

and highlights the shoddy understanding of mental illness in this country, I'm not sure I would classify this passenger as "innocent".

Let's not pretend that this guy was just some random business man minding his own business standing around in the terminal waiting for his flight and then the mean awful Nazi sky marshal shot him for no reason at all. He said he had a bomb in his backpack, he ran away, refused to stop, and then reached into said backpack for some unknown purpose. I don't necessarily think that shooting him outright was a good or appropriate response, but it's not hard to imagine the fear and agitation everyone witnessing this situation must have felt.

What should the sky marshal have done? What if he had had a bomb and was reaching into the backpack to detonate it? I guess then we could post a headline, "Mentally ill man 1, Innocent Passengers 245". I'm guessing that that was what the sky marshal thought she was trying to prevent. I seriously doubt she was just waiting around for the chance to use her weapon on some poor innocent passenger.

[scarface2004]

15. sky marshals get off on killing people..

all they need is the slighest excuse to blow somebody away! the guy was going to be shot to death even if he had laid down and not put his hand in the bag (which is the usual lie the cops use to cover their asses after they kill somebody for the fun of it)

[southernleftylady]

24. this is the first time they have fired their weapon in their history nt

[DistressedAmerican]

27. Stupidest Comment Posted On DU In Some Time.

Clearly not true as this has never happened before. You should be ashamed of yourself.

In this case I would have pulled the trigger. They were well within their duties. Let me ask you this, has the guy had the bomb he claimed and reached into the bag detonating it, would you be happy that the Marshals given the chance DID NOT shoot?

It is clear that there were many witness to the incident. This was the right call and it was not just some marshall getting his rocks off. Your implication that it is is just plain bigoted and frankly sickening.

Care to explain this irrational hatred of US air marshals?

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

29. Really?

Can you show me any other examples of sky marshalls randomly killing people? I think it's pretty ridiculous to make that kind of statement about an entire group of people.

[Harper_is_Bush]

3. Without knowing all the facts....

I would say if he ran off the plane, why would they shoot him?

I'll be interested to find out where he ran to. If he was away from the plane, then what was the danger? Surely they would know that a gun would not have been in the bag after the security check at the airport.

[Pavulon]

9. Surely you couldn't get explosives on a flight in your shoes(NT)

[Harper_is_Bush]

12. Shoes? I don't follow.....

can you clarify your point?

[Pavulon]

14. Richard Reid

Managed to get enough explosives and a detonator past security in a foreign airport. No reason this person could not.

Was addressing your statement that it was not possible he had a weapon or bomb because he cleared security.

Sorry, wasn't trying to come off sarcastic.

[Harper_is_Bush]

16. I said a gun wouldn't get past....

a gun would be almost impossible to get past, I would say. Such a big chunk of metel with such a distinctive shape.

The point was therefore why shoot him if it's not a gun.

The idea of a bomb is different, but as I mentioned he was running away from the plane. Why do that if you have a bomb and want to cause damage?

[Silverhair]

18. Wasn't he running toward a terminal with lots of people?

Where was he running to? If he was running faster than the marshall then there is the danger of losing sight of him. Now find the bomb after he makes a turn at the corner of something.

[Harper_is_Bush]

20. I don't think we know

it will all come out, and the question about the appropriatness of the marshells action should be answered.

[rsmith6621]

4. I Feel Sorry BUT!!!!!

The Sky Marshall need to protect the saftey of the aircraft and the passengers. The Sky Marshalls gave ample warning,they do not have time to make a judgment call whether or not the man was Bi-Polar nor should they be expected to believe the wife and her claim of Bi-Polar. He made a move that was threatening to the Officer and the Officer did what he is trained to do in this situation.

Sad the passenger had an illness but his action and claim that he had a bomb does not excuse him.

I work at Seattle-Tacoma Int Airport, the other night they blew up a suitcase that had no passenger ID nor an airline bag tag. It was a womans bag and had no bomb in it but how are the authoritys suppose to know that. In this case the Feds had justification to blow up his bag as well, once again its standard procedure.

There was no politics involved in todays event. We cannot be to safe today when it comes to security at the airports....Just ask those airline employees who lost their jobs after 9/11 because STUPID GEORGE didnt take Al'Queda and Bin Laden serious.

I will await the impending FLAME WAR.

[GrumpyGreg]

6. No flame here --I agree with you. It's easy to pass judgement---

sitting banging away on a keyboard.

[depakid]

10. We don't know whether he made a move that was threatening

that's what Homeland security says- but did he really? Enough to justify deadly force?

Personally, I doubt it- but I'm going to wait til more facts come out before drawing that consclusion.

[Angry Girl]

13. Yeah, great, Shoot to kill - I'm comforted....

This country has seriously lost its mind.
http://www.al.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/opinion/1133709450225000.xml&coll=1

[Silverhair]

17. You would prefer a bomber be able to detonate his bomb?

He says he has a bomb. For your idealism are you willing to risk the lives of others. If it is just you and the bomber, and no others, feel free to take whatever risk you desire that will give you a warm fuzzy if you are right.

Of course it is so wonderful to sit in the comfort of your chair with lots of time and a mindset predisposed to find fault with those who must make split-second decisions with hundreds of lives at risk.

If the officer had not fired and the guy had really had a bomb and detonated it after reaching the terminal - you would be hot at your keyboard wanting to know why the marshal didn't stop it?

[Freddie Stubbs]

26. So far the Air Marshalls have not shot one person

who hasn't claimed to have a bomb. I think that it is pretty obvious how to avoid this guy's fate.

[chookie]

21. I'd say it would be a tough call

...for a layman to make a diagnosis, in an instant, whether a person is mentally ill or truly dangerous and about to commit a violent act. On the surface, someone about to commit a terrible homicide and someone in the throes of a highly agitated manic phase, look awfully similar.

The action taken has everything to do with context: In a hospital setting, the guy would have been subdued by orderlies. In a street setting, the guy would have been tasered by police. In an airport/plane setting, the guy gets killed by air marshals.

It really sucks being mentally ill.

I don't know all the details of this case -- I can't pass judgement without them. There very well may be an element of quick trigger finger in this case, which will lead to changes in training to apply to future incidents (wishful thinking on my part).

[mmonk]

7. So he got onto the plane with an unchecked

and unscanned bag?

[HysteryDiagnosis]

8. Perhaps if the medical community were allowed to tell the

truth.... this man may have benefitted from the following non-toxic, cheap, plentiful intervention.

1: Am J Psychiatry. 2004 Oct;161(10):1922-4. Related Articles, Links


Omega-3 fatty acid treatment and T(2) whole brain relaxation times in bipolar disorder.

Hirashima F, Parow AM, Stoll AL, Demopulos CM, Damico KE, Rohan ML, Eskesen JG, Zuo CS, Cohen BM, Renshaw PF.

Brain Imaging Center, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA. [e-mail].

OBJECTIVE: The authors hypothesized that changes in brain membrane composition resulting from omega-3 fatty acid administration in patients with bipolar disorder would result in greater membrane fluidity, as detected by reductions in T(2) values. METHOD: Women with bipolar disorder (N=12) received omega-3 fatty acids for 4 weeks. A cohort of bipolar subjects (N=9) and a group without bipolar disorder (N=12) did not receive omega-3 fatty acids. T(2) values were acquired at baseline and after 4 weeks. RESULTS: Bipolar subjects who received omega-3 fatty acids had significant decreases in T(2). There was a dose-dependent effect when the bipolar omega-3 fatty acid group was subdivided into high- and low-dose cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: Omega-3 fatty acids lowered T(2) values, consistent with the hypothesis that the fluidity of cell membranes was altered. Further studies are needed to clarify the significance of alterations in brain physiology induced by omega-3 fatty acids, as reflected in T(2) values.

Publication Types:
Clinical Trial
Randomized Controlled Trial

[depakid]

11. If you want to take 9 grams of fish oil a day

some research indicates that there are benefits to this CAM treatment- but not enough in many cases to justify using it as anything more than adjunctive therapy.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

23. A couple of links of interest.

http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/alternat/evprimschiz.html

Evening primrose oil and fish oil for schizophrenia

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clinical bottom line:
There is no convincing evidence from small trials to show whether supplementation with polyunsaturated fatty acids is effective in relieving the symptoms of schizophrenia, though one study showed beneficial effects with fish oil. Adverse effects were uncommon. The studies assessed a variety of outcomes.





http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/39/2/29-a


All these results of course, do not actually prove that eating a lot of fish can help prevent the bipolar disorders, Noaghiul and Hibblen admitted in their study report, especially as some well-known risk factors for the disorders—socioeconomic status, rural/urban ratios, marital status, alcoholism, and smoking—were not controlled for in their study.

Nonetheless, they suspect that eating a lot of fish, or at least the omega-three fatty acids that fish contain, may be able to play some preventive role against these disorders—or at least against the depressive aspect of them.

In fact, there is some evidence that eating a lot of fish, or at least the omega-three fatty acids, may be able to combat the depression of bipolar disorder. For example, in 1999, Andrea Stoll, M.D., of McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., and his coworkers reported that bipolar patients taking mood stabilizers plus a dietary supplement of omega-three fatty acids experienced less depression than did bipolar patients getting mood stabilizers alone.

The case is building, too, that fish consumption may play a preventive and therapeutic role as far as unipolar depression is concerned. For example, as Hibblen reported in the April 18, 1998, issue of the Lancet, greater seafood consumption was related to lower lifetime prevalence rates of major depression in nine countries. Lesser amounts of the omega-three fatty acids have been found in the tissues of persons with major depression than in those without. And when infant piglets were given omega-three fatty acid supplements, it doubled the concentration of the nerve transmitter serotonin in their brains.

[SidDithers]

28. Or maybe if he had just been taking his...

medical community perscribed medications, as his wife indicated he had stopped doing.

Glad to see you've stopped linking to the sales department at the Life Extension Foundation in your sig.

Sid

[HysteryDiagnosis]

30. Linking to the sales department.... good one... let me tell you what

buddy, I bust my ass for a living in less than desirable conditions, I garner not one cent from any "sales" so put it where it fits... and if you have a problem with natural therapies, you'd better leave the planet cuz they ain't going away none too soon.


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www.orthomed.org




http://www.orthomed.org/wund.htm
Orthomolecular Medicine Revisited

Ray C. Wunderlich, Jr., M.D.'


Orthomolecular treatment of clinical conditions amounts to only a small percentage of total medical care rendered in North America. Persons with health disorders who seek treatment from their physicians are li kely to receive a wide variety of drugs. "The use of pharmaceutical agents has not only become a reflex for most allopathic physicians, it has become a standard upon which judgements are made about "proper doctoring". In recent years, however, a concerned citizenry, uneasy, perhaps, about the ready use of powerful drugs, has increasingly sought alternatives to drug therapy for medical disorders, Largely as a result of population pressure; nutritional education, prudent eating, and physical fitness are fast becoming first-line measures within and without the medical fraternity.

Despite this strong trend, however, the toximolecular approach (the use of xenobiotics, substances foreign to the body) remains strong whenever patients consult physicians for illness. Persons with hypertension are usually given antihypertensive drugs. Infected patients usually receive anti-infectious drugs. Hyperactive and attention-deficit children usually receive Ritalin or similar drugs. Peptic ulcer patients nearly always receive Zantac or Tagamet, Neurotic, psychotic, and character-disordered patients usually receive tranquilizers (neuroleptics) of one sort or another.We are privileged to live at a time when effective medications are available for crisis-care and some longterm conditions. The calcium-channel blocking drugs appear to be clinically effective agents and are helpful in promoting understanding about basic cellular physiology. Nevertheless, alternative methods of nutritional and orthomolecular disease management are available, "These methods are employed by orthomolecular physician CD The components of these treatments include dietary manipulation, nutrition supplementation, herbal remedies, homeopathic treatments, detoxification, hype bane oxygen, intravenous chelation, a lergy management, attitude adjustment ecological manipulation, and safe forms of megavitamin therapy. Newer method of treatment such as ozone therapy, intravenous hydrogen peroxide therapy, magn o therapy, and the like may be utilized but must be considered experimental at this time.Scientific discovery employs the scientific method and has been responsible for accurate scientific information for hundreds
of years.

Although double-blind studies are an important part of the scientific endeavor to find the truth, so, too, are observations. The scientific achievements of the 20th century have been based upon the successful descriptive work of the 19th century. Then, too, in a broad sense science incorporates philosophy. Some point out that science, too, must recognize that experiments once observed by a observer, become changed by the act of observation. The character of scientific procedures places restriction on the relevance of results. Philosophers of science are obliged to consider not merely nature in isolation but also the manner in which man, himsel perceives and interprets facts. Recognizing that the problems posed by the interaction of man and nature are complex, we may conclude that all information can be valuable when placed in proper perspective. Despite the limitations of anecdotes accepted science, they are quite valuable a means of communicating to others how some of us get people well. Accordingly, anecdotal reports can be a valuable didactic tool. In this spirit, a number of clinic anecdotes will now be presented. The subject matter is Orthomolecular Medicine.

ON EDIT: WWW.LEF.ORG

[emdee]

19. On Anderson Cooper...

it was reported that one family member said he was bi-polar while another family member said he wasn't.

Without going into a lot of detail, I can tell you that when a bi-polar person is in a rage and off of his/her meds, it can turn threatening and/or violent very quickly. It's not a pretty disease at all.

emdee

[Wind Dancer]

22. This is so tragic!

Why can't air marshals use a stun gun or something else to knock out a suspect instead of shooting to kill? Obviously, yelling bomb on a plane is a threat but there must be an alternative when in doubt.

If he did have a bomb, restraining him to get more info would seem more productive. What if this happens again with a real bomb and the suspect is killed before revealing its location? Wouldn't they get more info from a suspect while alive?

Obviously, there are circumstances that would warrant shoot to kill but today's tragedy could have been avoided with a different type weapon.

[WernhamHogg]

25. I was wondering the same thing

I am obviously not an expert and I know that the air marshals wouldn't have an arsenal of weapons to choose from, but aren't there some beanbag bullets that would have been just as effective in knocking the man out, without killing him? Why wouldn't/couldn't the air marshals use these weapons rather than guns?

I'm still waiting to hear the entire story, but this was something I have been curious about.