NEW YORK (PIX11) — A young man, homeless and disheveled, was surrounded by a joint response team made up of two NYPD officers, a social worker, and a nurse.
After protesting for several minutes — with handcuffs on — it was one of the many involuntary removals the Adams administration conducts on a weekly basis in the New York City subway system.
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After several minutes, the man was led out of the station, up to the street and into a waiting ambulance.
He was headed to Bellevue Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation; evaluations which often lead to an involuntary 72-hour psychiatric hold. The team’s nurse went along for the ride.
Brian Stettin, the mayor’s senior advisor on severe mental illness, said response teams perform about 130 involuntary removals a week under a broader interpretation of the prevailing legal standard that determines whether a person is “a danger to themselves or others.”
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It’s a direct response to the public’s palpable concern over innocent people being victimized above and below ground; from suspect Ramon Rivera , who police say fatally stabbed three innocent victims in unprovoked attacks across Manhattan, to Sebastian Zapeta , who’s accused of walking out of a homeless shelter and then fatally setting a woman on fire as she slept on an F train in Coney Island, Brooklyn.