Madman’s Bloody Cleaver Rampage Highlights Need for Expanding Involuntary Commitment

A terrifying incident unfolded in Brooklyn over the weekend, highlighting the dire effects of state legislators’ reluctance to adopt Governor Kathy Hochul’s reforms aimed at ensuring that individuals suffering from severe mental illness receive necessary treatment.

In a shocking episode, four girls, ages 8 to 13, were horrifically attacked with a meat cleaver by a male relative inside a Bensonhurst residence on Sunday morning.

Fortunately, all the girls survived thanks to the police intervention, who shot the assailant, Lun Chang Chen. However, the psychological and physical impacts of this ordeal will likely haunt them for an extended period.

Chen, like many perpetrators before him, had a documented history of mental illness, including prior hospitalization for schizophrenia.

Every hesitant lawmaker who’s uncomfortable with the idea of “forcing” treatment on dangerously mentally ill individuals should confront the chilling images of this crime scene.

Chen embodies the type of individual that involuntary commitment is intended for — clearly posing a threat to himself and others.

Yet, healthcare providers often hesitate to commit individuals like Chen to long-term care.

Hochul aims to grant hospitals greater authority (and legal protection) to detain and treat severely mentally ill patients, allowing not only doctors but also psychiatric nurse practitioners to recommend involuntary commitments.

Despite this, progressive lawmakers resist the notion of hospitalizing even the most evidently troubled individuals, with advocacy groups spending considerable amounts on lobbyists to pressure legislators against Hochul’s proposed reforms.

Organizations such as the Alliance For Rights and Recovery dare to claim, “These proposals will traumatize more New Yorkers.”

Is an assault with a meat cleaver deemed “traumatizing”?

What about being shoved in front of a subway train by someone conversing with themselves?

Or sexually assaulted by a man with 70 prior arrests?

Or stabbed in the chest by a disturbed neighbor?

Even if these so-called advocates are unwilling to consider the victims, do they truly believe that allowing a person to harm children during a mental health crisis is a “more compassionate” alternative to hospitalization and treatment, even if involuntary?

New Yorkers clearly disagree; nearly 90% support expanding involuntary commitment.

The state failed these four young girls by allowing Chen to evade necessary treatment, but the path to avoiding similar tragedies in the future is unmistakably clear.

End the chaos — enact and enforce strict involuntary commitment laws.