Vietnam vet in standoff had stopped taking meds

UPDATE
August 29, 2011

Vietnam Vet given 10 years probation

Before we moved to Florida, we made two trips to visit Disney. In 1999, my husband was acting like a kid again, enjoying the rides and really excited by the attractions. The following year, a return trip was just the opposite. He complained most of the time we were at the parks about the heat, the crowds and didn't want to go on some of the rides he really enjoyed just the year before. I was very worried about him, wondering why he was acting the way he did and getting very aggravated that he would not just stay in the hotel room instead of making us miserable by his whining at the parks.

When we got back to Massachusetts, I made him go to the VA to find out what was going on. When we got there, he told the triage nurse that he stopped taking one of his medications. He said he was afraid to tell me because I would get mad at him. Turned out he never stopped to think that he was risking his life and making the people around him angry anyway. That was the last time he stopped taking his medication.

When people on medication feel better there is a tendency to stop taking them. After all, instead of thinking they are stable because of them, it's more hopeful for them to think they are cured. This is what can happen when they decide to become their own doctor and their worst enemy.

Wednesday, Jul. 15, 2009
Vietnam vet in standoff had stopped taking meds
By MITCH MITCHELL and BILL MILLER
Keller and North Richland Hills SWAT officers rushed through a back door and tackled a troubled Vietnam veteran in Watauga on Thursday night after an armed standoff that lasted more than nine hours.

Ronnie Paul Crowder, 57, was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation, stunned relatives said. He faces two charges of attempted capital murder for shooting at two officers who arrived at his house in the 5900 block of Robin Drive about 11:15 a.m., Watauga police Chief Randy Benjamin said.

About 8:45 p.m., he said, officers shot at least six rounds of a chemical agent before entering the house and tackling Crowder.

The man was combative during and after the arrest and had to be strapped down for the ambulance ride, Benjamin said.

During the long, hot afternoon, homes were evacuated on Robin Drive and Kary Lynn Street South, a few blocks from Whitley Road Elementary School. As people arrived home from work, they were directed to a nearby public library to wait.

Relatives said Crowder had "not taken his medicine in six days. He’s not in his right mind." He served two tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Marines and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as numerous physical ailments.
read more here
http://www.kellercitizen.com/101/story/13347.html