Help on hold: Southwest Virginia mental health patients, law enforcement see marathon wait times on detention orders
Jasmine Franks | Community Newspapers of Southwest Virginia On a Friday morning in late November, Sgt. Josh Taylor and other Marion Police officers and Smyth County deputies responded to a report of a suicidal woman holding a knife to her chest. Officers tried unsuccessfully to de-escalate the situation and negotiate with the woman to drop her weapon, but the woman became violent and the officers had to use a stun gun to subdue and disarm her, according to police accounts. The woman was detained on an emergency custody order, also known as an ECO, and taken to the Smyth County Com...
Source: swvatoday.com