Public Alert for the Mentally Ill

Beth Janicek

Attorney
(866) 735-1102 Ext 395

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After a month of anguish, a San Antonio family has found their mentally ill mother in Dallas.   Marguerite “Margie” Hockley, age 48, was reported to be schizophrenic. The missing person alert was cancelled April 8^th after Hockley was located and interviewed by San Antonio police who concluded she was not a threat to herself or others and did not exhibit mental problems warranting taking her in for a competency exam.  She had spent the last month wondering through Texas and sleeping on the roadside. Kerrville resident Caroline Garcia, who tried to help Hockley when she was found facedown in a roadside ditch on April 26 south of Kerrville, has criticized deputies for not seeking medical help for Hockley instead of giving her a ride to the county line near Comfort.

Garcia and the Hockley’s support legislation to a public alert system for people with medical or mental conditions, similar to Amber Alerts and Silver Alerts, for missing children and senior citizens respectively.

This legislation is needed as there does not appear to be any system in place for these individuals who are in need which could also help the law enforcement handle their needs better.  I have a case pending presently against an assisted living facility and Bexar County who allowed a schizophrenic woman leave the facility.  She was eventually picked up by the San Antonio Police Department and put in the Bexar County Jail where she died from seizures because the jail failed to provide her much needed medication to prevent seizures.