Dontae Maurice Melton Jr. died in the custody of Baltimore Police officers June 25 after he was restrained on the night of the 24th during a mental health crisis at the intersection of Franklin Street and Franklintown Road, where he asked a police officer for help.
The 31-year-old father of two suffered from mood disorders and a seizure disorder, his mother, Eleshiea Goode, told Baltimore Beat.
“His decision to start using drugs was his way of self-medicating as he tried to fight the battlefield in his mind that never seem to allow him to rest,” Goode wrote in a text message to the Beat. “He’s been to rehab around seven times in the past 10 years on his own ( he went when he was ‘ready’) because he never gave up on trying to beat the demons in his head.”
After a rehab stint in Crownsville, Melton remained sober for some time and began working at a medical waste plant in Curtis Bay. “He kept that job for almost a year and even bought himself a used truck and was extremely proud of himself as this was the first time he made significant progress managing his condition,” Goode said…