Almost a year after Katrina, New Orleans Times-Picayune photographer John McCusker is so haunted by the devastation he photographed in the aftermath of the powerful hurricane that he attempted "suicide by cop" this past Tuesday. When the staff of the newspaper relocated to a remote newsroom in Baton Rouge after the New Orleans facility flooded last year, Mr. McCusker refused, instead swimming through debris while managing to keep his photography equipment out of the flood waters, and then took photos, some of which helped make the tragedy real for the rest of America. His heroic work has helped the people of New Orleans by putting faces with the stories for the rest of the country, but was the price too great? For months, he lived with the images of the misery he had photographed and with the reality of having lost all his possessions, his family home, and his neighborhood to the storm.
"In an episode that began as a traffic stop for erratic driving, the authorities say, Mr. McCusker was halted once, pinned a police officer between cars by backing up, then fled and drove into several cars and construction signs in the Uptown neighborhood before being stopped again and finally subdued with a Taser gun. In both stops, the police say, he begged officers to shoot him, telling them he did not have enough insurance money to rebuild his home in the Gentilly neighborhood and wanted to die." (Susan Saulny, NY Times)
Fortunately, officers recognized that desperation had driven him to what can only be described as a suicide attempt - by an admittedly unusual weapon, a NOPD issued pistol in the hands of an officer. Instead of killing him, officers took him into custody. As of Wednesday, he sits in a jail cell on suicide watch, under the supervision of a physician, charged with reckless operation of a vehicle and hit & run driving.
Louisiana's psychiatric professionals number less than half what they did before hurricane Katrina; less than 65 beds are available for adult psychiatric patients; no psychiatric crisis intervention unit was available to accept Mr. McCusker at the time of his arrest. His friends are just grateful he's somewhere safe where he can't hurt himself or anyone else instead of sitting in an overcrowded emergency room where the wait can last for days just to see a doctor.
I sincerely wish for John McCusker's recovery & perhaps even his return to the Times-Picayune news team. Even if he chooses not to return to news, he is a great asset to the city of New Orleans. We are all grateful to you, Mr. McCusker, for giving of yourself for us in the face of such monumental loss. We owe you a debt of gratitude which we can never repay.

To read the New York Times coverage of this story, written by Susan Saulny, go to After Long Stress, Newsman in New Orleans Unravels - New York Times