Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

ALBANY – Senator Catharine Young (R,C,I- Olean) is again calling for strengthening Kendra’s Law, a law that was put in place to help people with mental illness receive outpatient treatment, after a deranged man killed a Queens resident by pushing him in front of an oncoming subway near Times Square. Ki Suk Han, 58, died on Monday. “Based on reports from the media and witnesses, it appears that the attacker had been yelling and cursing at passersby on the subway platform,” said Senator Young. “We need to expand and strengthen the laws and procedures that determine how and when people receive treatment for mental illness. We cannot afford to wait any longer.” In an eerily similar incident in 1999, Kendra Webdale, a 32-year-old woman, was pushed in front of a subway train by a man with untreated schizophrenia who was roaming New York City streets. “Kendra’s Law” was enacted in response to this tragedy. It put in place “Assisted Outpatient Treatment” (AOT) in New York, which...