We’re bringing you the latest installment in the “On Edge” series from the Colorado News Collaborative this week. The series — a deep dive into the embarrassing state of mental health care in Colorado — has local impact, and a bit of its roots can be traced to the story we did with Susan Greene in 2019 about the shooting death of Daniel Pierce in Rangely.
One of the “red flags” in that story was the way MindSprings (the local mental health provider) responded to a call from Sgt. Roy Kinney about Daniel Pierce’s bizarre behavior.
Based on a brief–less than five minutes — phone call, Pierce was deemed “not a threat to himself or others,” and therefore no official action was to be taken. Not long after, Pierce led officers on a slow-speed chase that would end in his death.