PTSD on Trial: Homeless Veteran

Homeless veteran accused of assaulting police officer
Killeen Daily Herald
by Clay Thorp
Posted on Jul 14, 2016

“My son needs help. He doesn’t need to be locked up; he needs to be in a hospital receiving treatment." Dianna Evens Brown

BELTON — A Bell County grand jury indicted a homeless veteran on a charge of assault of a public servant Wednesday. Jeremy Jeremiah Arrington, 31, was booked into the Bell County Jail on May 23 after police said they responded to the 3000 block of Chaucer Drive on May 20 in response to a structure fire. 

According to an arrest affidavit, police arrived to find Arrington standing near the structure, but when officers began to question him, he became “very uncooperative and refused to answer any questions, then attempted to walk away.”

The affidavit said officers gave Arrington instructions to stay put, “which he disregarded.”

In an interview with Arrington’s mother, Dianna Evens Brown, 64, of Killeen, she said her son has schizophrenia and has been on medication since the Army discharged him some 17 months ago.

Brown said her son tried to walk away from the situation with police, and reacted the way any combat-trained soldier would when threatened after police laid hands on him. She said he was originally put on the anti-psychotic drugs because he returned from combat with extreme paranoia, so his run-in with police possibly triggered his post-traumatic stress disorder.
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