A few years ago, Michael Tate Reed drove his car into a Ten Commandments monument outside of the Oklahoma State Capitol in Oklahoma City. It was October 24, 2014, when then 29-year-old Reed decided that the religious monument stood a wee-bit too close to the Capitol building for his taste and he proceeded to slam his vehicle into it, effectively destroying it.
As it turned out later, the monument (for which Reed was admitted to a hospital for mental examination) was never replaced due to the absolute frenzy of the Left over the story of how a religious monument had been placed, with private funds, mind you, on the property adjacent to a government building. Taxpayers had never paid for the monument, yet the press made such a stink about it at the time that the state Supreme Court struck down a call to replace it. In other words, a privately owned plot of land and a privately owned piece of stone were blocked from being utilized by their owner over a phantom belief that the courts knew to be untrue. But, remember…that’s how Leftism works.
At the time of the episode, Reed was diagnosed with a “schizoaffective disorder” (which in laymen’s terms means “delusional and depressed”) and two months later, he was released from Norman’s Griffin Memorial Hospital with a lunch bag and ten bucks and told never to do that sort of stuff again.
It wasn’t but a few months later when he was making open threats against Barack Hussein Obama, setting money on fire, and entering federal buildings to spit on pictures. Well, he wasn’t running over monuments now, was he? After several more run-ins with law enforcement, he wrote an email.
In an email to the newspaper, Reed reportedly said how voices in his head became his norm and apologized for running into the statue.
“I am so sorry that this all happening and wished I could take it all back,” Reed reportedly wrote.
Reed moved to Arkansas and began slowly exhibiting signs once again that he was mentally unhinged. On Wednesday, the now-32-year-old Reed entered his Dodge Dart, pushed record on a dashcam and proceeded to shout, “Oh my goodness, freedom!” and drove the vehicle into a newly installed Ten Commandments monument that stood near the Arkansas Capitol in Little Rock, completely destroying it.
Investigators believe Reed recorded himself as he drove into the statue in Little Rock, the secretary of state’s office official said.
In a Facebook Live video to an account under the name Michael Reed, a driver appears to shine his headlights on the monument and shouts, “Freedom!” as he drives toward it. As the vehicle hits the granite, the video cuts out.
In another Facebook video posted early Wednesday, a man who called himself Michael Reed described his beliefs in both Jesus and the separation of church and state. He spoke from a seat in a 2016 Dodge Dart.
“I’m a firm believer that part of salvation is that we not only have faith in Jesus Christ but we obey the commands of God, and that we confess Jesus as Lord,” he said in the video. “But one thing I do not support is the violation of our Constitutional right to have the freedom that’s guaranteed to us, that guarantees us the separation of church and state.”
There’s “no one religion” that the government should represent, the man said.
Once again, the monument (as in Oklahoma three years before) was a privately funded piece of religious art on private land that happened to be nearby to the Capitol. While it’s difficult to understand why someone would do this, I continue to hearken back to the fact that this man is really mentally deficient in some ways. He is not employable because of his mental issues, and he is on permanent disability. Medication obviously does not work on Reed, or he is just not taking it. Whatever the reason, this is the type of individual, like the shooter in the tragedy of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where he is merely building up to a crescendo of hostile or violent behavior that will possibly escalate toward something much worse.
I don’t have answers to what should be done with Mr. Reed. I’m not a doctor. I’m not paid enough money to make that kind of judgment call. As Obama was fond of saying, “That’s above my pay grade.” However, I do know, commonsensically, that this guy is a time-bomb waiting to explode. If authorities don’t see their way to bottle up Reed and ensure that he gets the needed therapy, treatment or medical procedures that will stymie or slow down this behavior, we are merely setting ourselves up for another Colorado theater shooting or a Sandy Hook episode.
This is not terrorism. It is not some kids vandalizing a bunch of cemetery gravestones. This is a man with a legitimate problem who appears to be struggling internally with way too much information and way too little medication.
Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Bigelow, who sponsored the 2015 law to erect the monument on state grounds, called the statue’s destruction “an act of violence.”
Rapert told reporters at a news conference later Wednesday that a new statue has already been ordered. He called on elected officials to take a stand against violence, and against people “using weapons to destroy things” based on differences in viewpoints.
“That’s the same hatred, that’s the same motivation that motives somebody to put on a mask and take a bat and go to a college campus and attack somebody who is standing there exercising their free speech rights,” he said, later referencing the shooting at a congressional baseball practice in Virginia.
Rapert went on to say that groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, which called for court action to take down the monument, can “stir and foment hatred and violence that will get unstable people to do what’s been done here today.” The senator also said the news media holds some responsibility for spurring hate.
“You can’t light a fuse and walk away and say you’re not responsible for the explosion,” Rapert said.
While I agree with Senator Rapert that the ACLU shouldn’t be inciting violent action over a perceived wrong against the common people, I don’t necessarily agree that that should be the focus of his efforts. As I said before, Reed is a sick man and this needs to be addressed.
Reed, who was lodged in the jail shortly after 7:30 a.m., faces charges of defacing objects of public respect, trespassing on Capitol grounds and first-degree criminal mischief, according to the report. He was being held without bail pending an initial court appearance.
We’ve all heard of the powder keg waiting for the charge…well, this man is it. A classic example. Let’s learn from our past mistakes and fix this now before innocent people are harmed. Let’s save this man’s life and help him to be more productive and healthy to society than yet another example of how we SHOULD have done something, but didn’t because we were all just too busy blaming the media, the Republicans, the Liberals, or the parents of Reed.
There has got to be at least one psychiatrist or psychologist out there who knows a thing or two about this condition and can possibly halt this behavior with the proper therapy and meds. I would love to see this guy, Reed, in another ten years down the road, a successful author of a book that explores his journey and celebrates his recovery at the hands of some good Christian doctors.
Source: Arkansas Online
He breaks things that hurt his feelers. Wot a kwybaybee.