Beloved paramedic's death reveals lurking mental health crisis

Almost immediately after FDNY Lt. Alison Russo of Huntington was stabbed to death Thursday on a Queens street, the savage attack on the paramedic became the latest instance of an increasingly bizarre tableau of random disorder around the region. Since then, however, the awful facts that have emerged about this sick and shocking crime fail to fit political slogans about illegal guns, or bail, or homelessness.

Peter Zisopoulos, 34, has been charged with second-degree murder and criminal weapons possession. So far, he’s still officially under evaluation in the Bellevue Hospital prison ward. He had no arrest record. Four years ago, officers responded to a call to his apartment, stemming from his disturbing communication of a threat. That led to a hospitalization. Law enforcement sources have been quoted as saying at the time that his mother said Zisopoulos took medication for schizophrenia. Neighbors have said that before last week’s horror, the quiet loner would pace around his Astoria block and home neighborhood, ignoring passersby.

This case prompts questions about dealing with mental illness. It is the kind of irrationally violent behavior that needs to be addressed alongside — not instead of — crime suppression by police.

Perhaps no one could have anticipated this particular demonic attack. But there are other walking human time bombs whose potential menace to others is easier to detect. Clearly, the institutional tools for averting such threats are flawed. The occupation of the city subway system by those unable to function in civil society worsened during the pandemic and still needs remediation. Earlier this year, the death of Michelle Go, who had been pushed off a platform by a complete stranger with a history of mental illness, became horribly emblematic.

There is a perpetual churn of disturbed people among transit facilities, emergency rooms, psych wards, streets, jail cells, and homeless shelters. Substance abuse is also in the mix.

On a state level, the number of psychiatric beds was reduced starting in the last decade, with the stated approach to provide care in local communities. Now Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration is rightly looking to restore such slots. More needs to be done.

Another small put positive step is that state officials recently released new guidance to mental health providers and hospitals which could expand the option to hold people involuntarily. The guidance said doctors don’t need to have an “overt risk of violence” to keep someone for hospitalization or evaluation. Rather, it says someone can be held for “an inability to meet basic living needs.”

That makes sense. It may not apply in a case exactly like Zisopoulos’. But it’s a modest sign that government realizes we have a mental health crisis, alongside a crime spike, and that meaningful actions on both are needed in real time. Respect for the memory of Lt. Russo and her acclaimed life’s work on the street demands it.