At least one police chief in Carrollton, Kentucky not only has no respect for citizens, he also has none for judges. Mentally ill people should beware Police Chief Michael Willhoite.
Defying a court order to take a mentally ill inmate to a state hospital for observation, a Kentucky police chief bought a one-way ticket to Florida for the man, sending him on a 28-hour bus ride, only to have the state extradite him back by saying he escaped.
According to investigation by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, Carrollton Police Chief Michael Willhoite spent $18 of his own money to rid himself of 31-year-old Adam Horine, instead of following a judge’s order to send him to Eastern State Hospital in Lexington for a thorough psychiatric assessment.
Defending himself while appearing before Judge Elizabeth Chandler for threatening a cab driver and “cussing in public,” the itinerant Horine begged the court for help, claiming he was mentally ill and saying “things I shouldn’t say.”
Chandler ordered sheriff’s deputies to take Horine to the hospital, but he was first transported back to county jail where a social worker evaluated him, reporting that Horine was hearing voices, felt suicidal, couldn’t sleep, and wanted to hurt “certain people.”
Despite the judge’s order and the evaluation, Chief Wilhoite instructed officer Ron Dickow to drive Horine 50 miles in a police cruiser to Louisville where Dickow bought Horine a one-way bus ticket to Florida with money given to him by the chief.
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Horine, who has previously been confined to mental hospitals twice, found himself in Florida, where he was later arrested in Gulfport after the Kentucky attorney general’s office issued a warrant for his arrest. The charge: second-degree escape, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. According to the warrant, Horine left the jail and the state “by bus, with the full knowledge that he was under court order to be transported to Eastern State Hospital.”
There's some escalation. Arrested for cussing out a cab driver, now facing up to 5 years in prison? Justice denied, indeed.
