2-11-2015 I need to correct an error that I made in writing Tuesday about Natasha McKenna, the 37 year old African American woman who suffered cardiac arrest after her encounter with law enforcement in the Fairfax County jail. I am happy to do this because my goal is to uncover the truth and also because this information confirms what those of us in the mental health community fear.
This is an instance where someone with a mental illness is acting oddly. The police are called and an altercation happens, resulting in charges being filed and the person with mental illness ending up becoming entrapped in the criminal justice system.
I was initially told by my sources and wrote that McKenna had been charged with simple assault. That was incorrect. Please read the official statement printed below from the Alexandria police. A spokesperson told me that three of the six officers involved in the initial contact with McKenna were CIT trained and that one of them was a CIT instructor.
