A remorseful woman in custody has the opportunity to apologise for her actions
Casey had requested RJ whilst in Custody, whilst feeling very remorseful. She wanted to apologise for her actions.
She had been arrested after a paramedic came across her wandering in the road in a drunken state. This was not the first time the paramedic had come across Casey in this state. He pulled up his car and jumped out to try to calm Casey down. Instead, Casey took the paramedic on a bit of a run around, during which time he saw a police car and went to flag them down for help. It was at this point that he decided to return to secure his car but when he turned back he saw his car reverse in to the road and then drive off up the road. He had left the keys in the ignition in his haste.
Casey had driven very sedately up to the next set of traffic lights, then turned on the sirens and sped away from the lights. She hit road signs and came to a stop very shortly afterwards. Casey was immediately arrested by Police. In custody, once she had sobered up, Casey was very remorseful and asked for help to apologise to the paramedic who was now likely to be in a lot of trouble at work, for trying to help out.
We visited Casey and discovered that she had suffered a down turn in her mental health during Covid. She had felt unable to continue with her job, which had been good for her self confidence and self image. Her life had become quite reclusive and she had taken to only going outside at night. Casey had begun to use alcohol to self medicate, on top of the medication already prescribed for her mental health conditions. The alcohol interacted with the prescription meds and her behaviour became extreme. This had led to a number of incidents with local Police and Ambulance Service.
We discovered that there had been a previous arrest where Casey had assaulted a PC during arrest. Casey told us that she had emailed the PC directly, to apologise for her behaviour when arrested but did not know whether the the email had been received as there had been no response.
The paramedic whose car was taken was willing to receive a letter from Casey and we also agreed to try to speak to the PC who had been assaulted, to ensure he had received the apology. Casey wrote a letter for the paramedic, assuring him that she was working with her Mental Health worker, her medical support and her Probation Officer, to try to ensure she change her behaviours when she is having very low periods. The paramedic was pleased to note that Casey had considered the implications of her actions on him professionally and how much she regretted that in particular. It was also useful for him to learn of Casey’s background and how she came to be where she was at that time. He stated that should he come across her again, he would at least now understand why she might be behaving in such an erratic way.
The PC was located and a phone call arranged with him. After chatting with him about Casey and her motivation to get back to a more normal lifestyle, he passed a message back to her, saying that he hoped one day to see her in the street and be able to stop and chat and see how life is going, rather than simply view her as ‘a job’. Casey was greatly comforted by this message and hopes for the same in the future.
