r/Tallahassee • u/According_Weekend_51 • 3d ago
Out of control guy near Capital Circle/Apalachee intersection
Start by sharing I live just east of the intersection so I drive by it regularly. Know there's a homeless encampment behind WalMart and no shortage of drunk/drug affected folks in that area... but, I'm writing about one guy in particular, and especially after what he JUST did. When I've seen him before he's often been yelling at invisible beings and even punching wildly at them, but around 5:45pm today he was in the median, threw a water bottle as hard as he could across traffic towards a guy on the sidewalk, and when the bottle hit a car before reaching his target without hesitation he bolted right into traffic to grab the bottle... and throw it again while cars were aggressively braking / swerving around him to avoid running into him. Guy is a younger white male, dark hair, moderately muscular build, and slightly shorter than average. Anybody else seen him and / or know his story? Sincerely pray he gets help he needs before it's too late (and before anyone jumps to my trying to help him, my teen daughter has been driving each time we've seen him and he's been so out of control I wasn't willing to stop and put her safety at risk).
76
u/sharp-calculation 3d ago
You should not try to help this person. Leave it to a professional.
18
u/MagnetAccutron 2d ago
I’d agree. But the professionals won’t be reaching out to him.
6
u/ChaoticCatharsis 2d ago
Dunno how it is here in tally, but elsewhere the “professionals” are often just cops clearing their camps and making them go somewhere else where they will eventually find the same treatment; camp torn down and forced to relocate.
Not saying OP should attempt to “help”.
But out of the people who could maybe help that someone out who is in such dire straits, it’s typically not that guy who does it for a job. Making it a job somehow makes you callous.
14
u/sharp-calculation 2d ago
Not every problem can be solved.
24
u/bug-scratcher2026 2d ago
We're the wealthiest nation in history. There's plenty of resources to protect these people's well being do not delude yourself into thinking this is inevitable or natural this is the product of neglect.
15
u/Paxoro 2d ago edited 2d ago
Some people don't want help.
This is probably one of the hardest, if not the hardest, problems to overcome when it comes to trying to end homelessness and trying to assist those that have major mental illness like the person described in the OP. Some just don't want the assistance, for various reasons. And you can't force it on anyone.
-1
u/United_Rent_753 2d ago
Unless of course, that person commits a crime right? In which case we would ideally put them in jail/prison with the intent of rehabilitation - which could be argued as “forced help”
I’m being a pedant but the argument is interesting
1
u/ChaoticCatharsis 2d ago
“The ambulance drivers, they don’t give a shit they just wanna get off workin’ “
1
u/pinealglandexpansion 2d ago
He means the professionally trained police officers that have 27 weeks of training. I think TPD has mental health workers as well as officers.
10
u/sandy_catheter 2d ago
Matches the description of the guy who was yelling at his phone in the bushes at the Murphy station at 630am a few months back in some kind of schizophrenic religious rage babble session. Seemed really close to going off.
13
u/CalliopeTheMuse 2d ago
I was driving home when this happened! Turned onto the Parkway from Cap Circle and traffic just stopped. Then I saw this dude in the lanes! I was scared he was going to jump back into traffic when we started moving. Yikes!
13
u/betawanted 2d ago
The next time something like this happens please call 911 and say you think someone is experiencing a mental health crisis. They will send a team out to evaluate.
9
u/According_Weekend_51 2d ago
I did actually call 911 and I wasn't alone as the dispatcher shared they had just received another call seconds earlier.
6
u/BigfootIsADragon 2d ago
I saw an officer there as the guy was walking off down towards Walmart punching the air .
2
u/According_Weekend_51 6h ago
Wonder if they managed to talk with him? I'd be pretty surprised if they're not already familiar with him, as I've seen him acting similarly several times across a number of months and, as in this case, suspect I'm not the only one who's called trying to look out for both his safety and the safety of others.
3
u/thegreathah2 1d ago
I think I’ve seen this guy before. A while ago, maybe last September, walking south down College Ave. he was punching the air very aggressively and people switched sides of the street to avoid him. It was right after the incident at Cascades so I think downtown was a little more on edge and avoidant.
10
u/BeardRag 2d ago
people need to want help before you can help them
thanks for the heads up of a dangerous person!
-4
u/Excellent_Condition 2d ago
Yes and no.
People do need to want help to change, but if someone is actively a danger to themselves or others, they can be forced to get treatment until they are no longer in danger/a danger.
0
1d ago
[deleted]
1
u/According_Weekend_51 6h ago edited 6h ago
Think we're referencing two different events... what I witnessed took place in the SE part of town (not far from the WalMart on Apalachee Parkway) and it was a young shorter white male that was in the middle of the road and threw a bottle across traffic. That shared I work not too far from the NE side of Capital Circle and regularly see people running across the road where the overpass runs into Thomasville Road close to the Truist bank and some have come super close to being hit (to be clear the people I've seen running across Thomasville Rd haven't been involved in violent altercations like the bottle-thrower... just crazy folks running across the road and heavy traffic when they could easily walk just a ways up to the traffic stop and use lights to cross much more safely).
32
u/Dubya8228 2d ago
Call the police the dude needs to be baker/marchman acted