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Mental health patient dies after scuffle with police

Record Searchlight (Redding, CA) - 7/29/2014

July 29--The man who fell into a coma after Redding police tried to detain him for a mental health hold has died.

Officials say the Monday autopsy of Matthew Robinson, 33, of Corning, didn't establish a cause of death and will require "further investigation."

But his fiancee, Felicia Wilson, 26, of Corning, stood by her belief that officers used excessive force to killed Robinson, whom she said had no known medical conditions besides mood issues and was ruled sober in a toxicology report at a hospital in Chico before the fateful incident in Redding.

"I just want answers, and I personally want the cops that were involved to pay for it, to be held accountable," Wilson said Monday afternoon.

According to the Redding Police Department, it all started about 10:30 p.m. on July 19, when a medical transport company was taking Robinson to Restpadd -- a psychiatric health facility on Eureka Way -- for mental health treatment after he'd sought initial care in Chico.

Wilson said Robinson knew he needed help and agreed to go with her for treatment because he was acting strangely.

"He knew," she said. "He voluntarily walked in."

But in an update Monday from the Shasta County Sheriff's Office -- which is investigating the death -- detectives said Robinson was being "aggressive and irrational," and punched an officer in the face when he was taken out of the transport vehicle. That's when officers took Robinson to the ground, where he continued to resist arrest until more officers helped detain him, Det. Gene Randall said.

Wilson said Robinson was off his bipolar medications and tends to be suspicious of law enforcement when that's the case, though he's peaceful when medicated.

"When he gets into that state of mind, law enforcement is the enemy, cops are not good, and so he gets into a defensive mode," she said.

Shortly after officers took Robinson down they noticed he wasn't breathing, Randall said.

After a week in a coma, the man Wilson planned to marry in either the fall or spring with white and baby-blue wedding decorations died about 4 a.m. Sunday.

"I'm just a big ball of emotions right now," she said. "One moment I'll be crying, and then the next moment I'll be in denial about it and then the next I'll be pissed off and confused."

Wilson said she didn't even know Robinson was taken to Redding and only found out about the incident through news reports, adding to her frustration, since she was listed as his emergency contact when she took him for treatment in Chico.

"If he had somebody calmly talking to him that he knew, he would have calmed down...and that's what I don't get, why they didn't contact me," she said. "If I had been notified, I would have gone up there that night to help him get calmed down."

And Wilson has other questions, too.

"Why the hell did the transporter call the cops instead of getting the orderlies who knew how to deal with mental patients in his position? Why wasn't he restrained in the transportation?" she said.

Her answers will have to wait, though, at least for another few days.

Shasta County sheriff's officials estimated last week that more details -- inlcuding the identities of the officers involved in the incident --might be released mid-to-late this week.

Meanwhile, Wilson's sister, Jessica Wilson, alleged an abuse of power by the police who detained Robinson.

"What I would like to know is, what did the cops do? Why won't anyone give us an answer?" she said. "It's irritating to me, because lately it seems like you see all these cops online getting away with too much...it seems like they have too much power these days."

Felicia Wilson said she, too, has lost faith in officers because of the incident.

"What I know is that they are educated somewhat in dealing with mental pateints like that, but they need to be educated more so something like this will stop happening," she said. "After this, in any situation, I'm not calling (police), because I don't feel safe with them."

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