NYC NOW - Midday News: NYPD Fires Officer Over Shooting, Inwood Vigil for Dominican Nightclub Collapse, and Mental Health Bed Shortage Leaves Dozens Stuck at Rikers

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has fired Officer Kevin Marcial after he admitted to shooting at his girlfriend’s husband during a 2022 car chase in Brooklyn. Meanwhile, New Yorkers will gather in Inwood Friday evening to mourn victims of the deadly roof collapse at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic. Plus, nearly 200 people deemed unfit for trial remain on Rikers Island due to a shortage of psychiatric beds. WNYC’s Samantha Max and Charles Lane explain why.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Thursday, April 10th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch is firing an officer for misconduct. Kevin Marciyal was terminated after shooting at his girlfriend's husband during a Brooklyn car chase back in 2022. He pleaded guilty in his administrative hearing but said he should stay on the force because he was sorry. An NYPD judge disagreed and recommended oustling the officer, Commissioner Tish, has the final say and agreed with the judge.

New Yorkers will gather tomorrow in Inwood to remember the victims of Tuesday's roof collapse at the Jetset Nightclub and the Dominican Republic. The vigil at Keyes-Casella Plaza on Dykeman's tree will start at seven if it rains, organizer, the community will gather at Alianza, Dominicana, on 160th Street instead. Officials say more than 200 people have died, and the collapse hurt hundreds more in Santa Domingo. Among those who died, Dominican politicians and athletes and Marengay star Ruby Perez, who was performing when the roof collapsed. 46 and cloudy, mostly cloudy today, low 50s were high.

Stay close. There's more after the break. On WNYC, I'm Stephen Nesson. Nearly 200 people on Rikers Island are supposed to be in psychiatric hospitals because judges found them mentally unfit to stand trial. But data shows there aren't enough beds to keep up with the surging demand. WNYC, Samantha Max, and Charles Lane are here to tell us more. Sam, what does it mean, first of all, to be mentally unfit to stand trial? It means you're psychologically unable to understand what's going on in your case and aid your defense. A judge can order a psychiatric exam to find out if someone qualifies. If they do,

the case might be dismissed if it's a less serious charge. But if it's a felony case, typically the person is supposed to go to a psychiatric hospital for treatment and legal education classes, that is, until they're ready to go back to court. The number of orders for these psychiatric exams has been rising for years, and the number of people found mentally unfit in City state courts has also gone up every year for the last five years. There were 372 in 2020 and up to 898 last year. It's impossible to pinpoint all the reasons why this is happening, but experts do have some ideas. They point to the pandemic, which took a mental toll on lots of people and also disrupted mental health care for many people. And then there has also been an increase in arrest in

recent years. That's partially just picking up after the height of the pandemic, but it's also been a focus of Mayor Adams administration to make more arrests. So if there are more people being found mentally unfit, but the number of beds have stayed the same, Charles, what are some of the implications of that? There's a number of implications with this. For one, it's causing a logjam throughout the entire criminal justice system, and this delays justice for everyone. There's also the general conditions on Rikers, which are poor. So far this year, there's a lot of have been five deaths of detainees or people who had just left detention. And Rikers is also currently being considered for a federal takeover because of rampant violence and drug use.

For people accused of crimes who have mental illness, this means waiting there on Rikers. And sometimes months, one lawyer mentioned that his client had to wait six months for a bed in a psychiatric hospital to open up. And waiting on Rikers comes with a confluence of other implications. One, they're not getting the same level of mental health care treatment that they might get in a psychiatric hospital. And the longer someone goes without proper treatment, experts say that their mental illness becomes more entrenched. But experts also sort of describe this compounding effect of mixing people who have been treated with people who haven't been treated. This makes conditions worse for both populations and creates a chaotic environment for everyone. At a board of

correction hearing a few months ago, there was a particularly vivid portrait painted of conditions in the mental health observation unit on Rikers. It came from a social worker, Justina Risenkki, who worked for the agency that provides health care on Rikers, correctional health services. She described that when someone is put into solitary confinement, as frequently happens there, their mental health gets worse and worse. On some occasions, CHS staff were able to get patients out for a shower or a dose of medication here and there. Still, it dependent on our persistent advocacy with sympathetic COs and much coordination as if we are asking for an elaborate favor. Officials at Rikers have called for an investigation into the use of solitary confinement on the mental health observation unit,

and they're working to come up with a way to monitor the practice of putting people in solitary confinement. What about any plans from the city or the state, Sam, to address the shortage of beds? Yes, some beds actually have been added just in the last couple of months. In February, the state added 50 beds at different psychiatric hospitals that serve criminal defendants, some here in New York City, some up in Rochester, but more beds are needed. Governor Hockel has proposed funding 100 more beds in the state budget for criminal defendants who are found mentally unfit to stand trial. The Independent Rikers Commission recently published a study calling for five.

new beds over the next few years. Then there's this proposal from Correctional Health Services, which is the agency that provides medical care in New York City Jails. They want to start offering these services on site in city jails like Rikers. Correctional health services, which provides medical care in New York City Jails, wants to start offering these services on site instead of sending people to state hospitals. They say they're already providing similar services, and have the staffing and resources to help fill the gap. They wouldn't be treating everyone, but at least some people who are already in city custody, the ideas that they would just be able to get these services while they're still in a city jail.

But that would require a change in this law that outlines who can provide this really specific type of care. There is a bill in the state legislature that would make it possible, but it has not passed yet. And then there are some advocates who say that right. is not an appropriate environment for effective mental health care, even if it's being provided by professionals. There's been a lot of discussion in New York recently about whether people should be hospitalized against their will to receive mental health treatment. Is everyone in favor of creating more hospital beds for criminal defendants? No. Advocates and a number of experts say that there are better and cheaper options for providing mental health treatment, particularly in the community. They say that the default for mental health care treatment in the criminal justice system has always been just putting people in secure facilities.

But for a lot of people, the experts say that some of these people just need some sort of structure to take their medication. They say that that doesn't have to happen in a secure hospital. It could happen in, for example, what they call supportive housing, which provides the structure that they would then be able to take their medication for. They say that there's a number of benefits, one being cost, whereas it may cost, hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a psych bed. Supportive housing would just be a fraction of that. They also point to just keeping people in the community and connected to their family and potential jobs for when they get out and they're ready to go back to the city.

That's WNYC's Charles Lane and Samantha Max. Thank you both. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Catch us every weekday three times a day for your top news headlines and occasionally. deep dives and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts more soon