Coastal Post Online
MARIN COUNTY'S NEWS
MONTHLY - FREE PRESS
(415)868-1600 -
(415)868-0502(fax) - P.O. Box 31, Bolinas, CA, 94924
|
|
The Death of Daniel Frederickson
He was twenty-nine years old when he was hit in the chest with a blast to his heart from a policeman's service revolver at 11 a.m. on December 16 in San Anselmo. He died quickly at the hospital where he was taken after the shooting.
A staff member at the group home where he lived believed Daniel was not taking his medication had called police to the house. He had a five-inch serrated steak knife from the kitchen of his house when police confronted him.
He grew up a spirited, charismatic, very intelligent boy who had the misfortune to get slammed with adult-onset schizophrenia when he was 21 years old.
He was a poet and singer/songwriter and sang his truth on his CD "Black Magic." Daniel was a soccer player at Bolinas-Stinson Elementary School and Tamalpais High School. He had a big beautiful, loving heart that was breaking as he saw his life dissolve into the morass of mental illness.
Some parents of children at Wade Thomas Elementary School across the street from where Daniel was living and where he died couldn't understand how a group home for mentally ill adults could be so close.
The police who were called to the group home knew Daniel.
"Police officers may use deadly force to protect themselves or others from what they reasonably believe would be an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury." Before Daniel was shot to death there was an attempt to subdue him with a taser but it did not work. One of the prongs missed, rendering the taser useless.
There are 2.2 million people in the United States suffering from schizophrenia. One-hundred thousand new victims will be diagnosed this year.
After diagnosis and over time 25% completely recover, 35% are much improved and can live independently, 15% improve but require an extensive support network, 10% are hospitalized unimproved, and 15% die, mostly of suicide.
Rest in peace Daniel.