KUALA LUMPUR: A mentally ill man running amok at Block D, PPR Sri Semarak has been arrested twice by police and sent to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital for psychiatric treatment.
In the most recent incident which occurred yesterday, the man had to be pacified by a team of officers from Wangsa Maju station, before being transported to the hospital again for treatment.
Wangsa Maju district police chief Superintendent Ashari Abu Samah said that was the best the police can do, when dealing with a mentally unstable person causing unrest in a neighbourhood.
"Until and unless he injures anyone, we are not allowed to detain anyone who is a mental patient.
"Even in the event that the man were to injure a person, he may not be charged like an ordinary person," he said when contacted.
He was asked to comment on posts in a Telegram whistle blower group, Edisi Siasat accusing the Wangsa Maju police of not acting on resident complaints regarding the man.
It is learnt that the mentally unstable man lives with his elderly parent and often regresses when he stops taking medicines prescribed by the psychiatric ward at HKL.
"We have acted in our capacity but each time we send him to the hospital, they keep him for a few days, and once discharged, he's back to his routine.
"Based on our preliminary investigation we also found out that the man's condition usual deteriorates, causing him to run amok and threaten the residents by going door to door, when he does not take his medication.
"There is nothing much that police can do to stop an insane man from going amok or threatening to attack his neighbour with a machete at Block D," Ashari said.
In the post on Edisi Siasat, the complainant claimed that in the past the person had allegedly peeped in a house and watched a woman change her clothes.
The victim's husband had beaten the suspect, but in the end, when the police arrived, they apprehended the woman's husband, instead of the man.
The residents allegedly from Block D had also requested the police to investigate and verify whether the mental declaration certificate the suspect holds is genuine as they say he could be pretending to avoid arrest and prosecution for his actions.