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Brendan McDermid / Reuters
Jason Russell is co-founder of nonprofit Invisible Children and director of the
SAN DIEGO -- A co-founder for San Diego-based Invisible Children, who was the face behind the "Kony 2012" video, suffered a brief reactive psychosis the day he was detained in Pacific Beach according to a statement from his family.
Jason Russell, 33, was allegedly masturbating in public, vandalizing cars and acting in what San Diego police characterized as a bizarre manner when he was found in different stages of undress March 15 at the intersection of Ingraham Street and Riviera Road.
Russell was not arrested but rather transported to a nearby hospital for treatment.
"During the evaluation we learned we probably needed to take him to a medical facility because of statements he was saying," said Lt. Andra Brown.
Russell's wife Danica Russell released a statement Wednesday revealing a preliminary diagnosis that suggests her husband's actions were in no way the result of drugs or alcohol in his body.
"The preliminary diagnosis he received is called brief reactive psychosis, an acute state brought on by extreme exhaustion, stress and dehydration. Though new to us, the doctors say this is a common experience given the great mental, emotional and physical shock his body has gone through in these last two weeks. Even for us, it's hard to understand the sudden transition from relative anonymity to worldwide attention - both raves and ridicules, in a matter of days," Danica Russell wrote.
Danica went on to say the family is confident Jason will make a full recovery. "Jason will get better," she wrote.
Read original story and view photos and videos on NBCSanDiego.com
Jason Russell will be under hospital care for a couple of weeks his wife explained adding that the recovery process could take months before he can return to Invisible Children.
"We will focus not on a speedy recovery," his wife states. "But a thorough one."
Cops: Invisible Children co-founder detained
Jason Russell is one of the founders responsible for the "Kony 2012" video that recently went viral. He is described on the organization's website as a co-founder and "our grand storyteller and dreamer." Russell is also described as a Christian and father to two children who wants to have nine more children with his wife he calls his "best friend for over 23 years."
The video "Kony 2012" calls for the capture of the Ugandan LRA leader whose fighting tactic involves kidnapping and torturing the country's innocent children.
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So many with words of judgment and wild guesses. Let's try words of compassion and empathy instead for this talented young man, and his family. I have seen this condition as I work in the healthcare field and it is real. He will recover and I pray he receives grace and kindness - not ridicule and accusations.
It's convenient that medical records are confidential so the wife can lie and say whatever she was coached to say. Yes, he should've been drug tested as soon as he arrived to the ER. As an ICU nurse for over a decade, I've seen MANY people who were dehydrated, malnurished, etc. They didn't do the things this man did unless there were drugs or alcohol involved. People in that state are usually slow to move, speak, and although they may be confused... they didn't display the behaviors this man did. I still say it was drugs of some sort. Probably meth. Increased body temp. from it could explain the taking off of the clothes. I don't buy a strictly mental breakdown brought on by the reasons they list. Also, why would he be dehydrated and malnurished? Not a bit of it makes sense... but the people who want it to be true will swallow it hook line and sinker.
Like you..You have swalloed it hook line and sinker...Who is to say he was not injected or slipped a micky in his drink...Something odd here..You are on this "it was probably drugs thing"...HA! you are the one that seems high and not clearly thinking this through...Is Kony just an excuse to invade and continue the war machine the US is on?Is it now in a quest to invade in Africa?...
I love the way that this person put it. We are all humans, we all have our issues. It's just that Jason Russell had his issues put out in public display.
#comment
This really comes as no surprise. I'm sure many of his compatriots have the same disorder... or at least it sure seems that way.
Jason Russell---"Meso KONY! Me love you long time."
Evidently so, but that's kinda problematic if you're on a public street isnt it?
Look at the bright side, the guy will have something new to give up for Lent.
Next year, that is.
Til then I guess its just going rain in his neighborhood. lol!
Sorry folks, sometimes my dog's butt picture of jesus just inspires me.
Something really fishy here...I will just say it now..It is like someone like the CIA most likely injected him with something to make him snap like this..For whatever reason..This is all done to dis-credit his cause..Which many feel is just a cover for a push for more war in Africa under the cover of Kony human rights violations..Seriously,since wars are not going that well in Afghanistan... Is Africa the next mark under the guise of lets stop Kony?....Is this Kony campaign just an excuse for more war and war profiteering in Africa?And the beat goes on....Wonder when the next false flag attack is coming....
Gay, gay, gay. Obviously, other reader's 'gaydar' bell is dinging as loud as mine. Perhaps Mr. Russell needs to forget about Kony for a while and attend to his own repressed sexual problems. Exhaustion leads to public masturbation? -- give me a break. It would appear repressed Christian values lead to it though.
How many geniuses that were so against the Iraq war think we should make the @!$%#holes in Africa our next problem to fix?
And to holier-than-thou 'Katherine' who wrote in with her psychobabble and asking why it's anyone's business whether he's gay or not: First of all, dear Katherine, any open, honest, gay man can spot a queen a mile away. And it does matter if he's gay because he has an organization that regularly accepts money from gay-bashing right-wing groups. Gay men who marry women, have children and then support, or are supported by, gay-bashing groups deserved to be outed. I feel sorry for his wife and children. I'm sure he may love them, but he's still using them. Oh, and by the way, his whole Kony 2012 thing is a bunch of BS propaganda -- sure, let's aid, support and further arm an army ( Ugandan) that has killed between 5-6 million people in the Congo Wars to catch a man who has killed a few thousand. Makes a lot of sense doesn't it. Never leave a fundamentalist Christian to do a man's job, they'll screw it up every time.
It would be funny that so many people could watch the KONY 2012 video and think that it was full of valuable information... except that it speaks sad volumes about the gullibility of Americans, at large. That being said, that video was about this guy Jason Russell patting himself on the back for being a successful propagandist. It was also an advertisement geared toward getting MORE people to give money to a cause that is not really helping anyone but Jason Russell...
Problems in Central Africa did not start with Joseph Kony and their resolution does not depend on his capture (him having disappeared and potentially dead already). This video has oversimplified the problems that persist in Africa as a result of Colonialist rule and the aftermath thereof.
PS- I totally agree about your assertion re. why it matters that he is a closet homosexual. I could tell he was batting for the other team just from the KONY2012 video. I didn't need TMZ to point it out. I'm sure many others were not confused on this point, as well.
Thank you for finally getting the story right. You should be ashamed of your daggone selves for announcing to the world that he'd been arrested when clearly the statement you even included from the Invisible Children Inc. explained that he'd been hospitalized! I'm not stupid enough to see this as an unintentional error. You people are freaking sick. People's lives. Not a twisted way for you to grow fat off of their suffocation.