THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 16, 1996 TAG: 9604160301
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON FRANK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Michael Grandelli's 41 years on Earth were filled with frequent delusional episodes brought on by a deep, debilitating psychosis.
Paranoid schizophrenia made it impossible for Michael to hold a job or have a family. When not institutionalized at Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, he lived with his mother, Marianne, or father, Charles.
Though divorced, the couple live near each other in the Hampton subdivisions of Tide Mill and Willow Oaks and shared responsibility for Michael.
Charles Grandelli said the family suffered through Michael's frequent explosions of abusive language and hallucinations, realizing Michael would never be cured. They understood that even heavy medication would not prevent psychotic outbursts.
But they also thought their son would never hurt anyone, and that he should never be aggressively confronted when suffering a delusional episode. Instead, he had to be gently coaxed into relaxing.
On Sunday, their worst fears were realized. Neither was with Michael when he slashed a police officer on the arm with a paring knife that had a 3-inch blade.
Then, on the sidewalk across from his mother's house, Michael Grandelli was shot to death by one of two police officers when he refused an order to drop the knife.
The deadly force was uncalled for, Charles Grandelli said on Monday.
``Michael was defending himself,'' Grandelli said during an interview Monday afternoon at his Hampton home. ``He was provoked into a rage.''
Neighbors confirmed Monday that Grandelli had been teased early Sunday evening by at least two boys who were riding bicycles along Diggs Drive in Hampton.
``They were yelling `Hey, crazy man,' '' said Bill Wethington, who lives next door to the Grandelli residence on Diggs Drive.
Police were called when someone reported that Michael Grandelli was chasing the boys with a stick and yelling obscenities.
According to a Police Department news release, which was the department's only comment on the case, the two officers attempted to talk to Grandelli.
That's when Grandelli attacked one with the knife, opening a 17-inch gash in the officer's right arm, police said.
Neither police officer was identified.
The Police Department said the wounded officer was put on an injured list and given leave. An investigation is under way.
Wethington said he was watching from his front door as they tried talking to Grandelli. He estimated the officers were about 20 feet from Grandelli when he took several steps forward.
Wethington said he heard the police order Grandelli to drop his knife and to come no closer. When Grandelli continued to advance, one of the officers shot Grandelli in the upper torso.
Wethington said he learned later that one of the police officers had been knifed.
Grandelli said his son had been involuntarily committed to mental hospitals so often that he was well-known to many members of the Hampton Police Department. The responding officers should have been told what behavior they would expect from Michael, Grandelli said.
Instead, the police officers came toward his son in an aggressive way, Grandelli said.
``They provoked him. He went into a rage when he thought he was being attacked. . . .I know my son like a book. Michael was defending himself. He was not pursuing (the officers).''
Grandelli said that if a mental health expert had answered the call Sunday with the two officers, his son would be alive.
``You can't leave it to a cop with a gun who feels threatened,'' Grandelli said.
``Police have to be trained about how to handle psychotic people who are out of control or under stress.
``We have a problem with police arresting the mentally ill and treating them like they are criminals.'' ILLUSTRATION: BETH BERGMAN
The Virginian-Pilot
Charles Grandelli says his son, Michael, ``was defending himself''
when he was shot to death in an armed confrontation with police
Sunday in Hampton.
KEYWORDS: FATALITY HAMPTON POLICE SHOOTING MENTAL ILLNESS STABBING
by CNB