Remembering Hiram, 5 Years On

Five years ago, on the afternoon of Dec. 16, 2004, Hiram Marrero was shot by New Haven police in a parking lot on the corner of Legion Avenue and Ella Grasso Boulevard. Marrero, age 35, later died of his wounds.

Marrero lived with a psychiatric illness. That day, he became psychotic and paranoid, armed himself with knives and attacked people, causing a minor injury to a mental health staff member. (In the words of another staff, overheard speaking into a cell phone: ​“He went nuts.”) When Hiram did not immediately surrender all the knives, three police officers fired ten times, according to the police report. The officers were later cleared in the shooting.

I lived in the same building as Hiram at the time, in Continuum of Care’s supervised apartments. I heard most of what happened, but did not see it. After returning to my second-floor apartment, I tried to open my back door to see the cops confront Hiram, but the door stuck (the only time in 11 years). I heard the shots, which did not sound imposing but more like small firecrackers.

A while later, a clear, inner voice (not audible) told me to pray: ​“Hiram’s dying.” I prayed briefly. I should have prayed harder.

Hiram was cheerful, well-liked and a good athlete. A bearded mesomorph, he would have made a fine, intimidating extra in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. His friends described an upbeat person, and I never heard of him being violent, until that day.

I barely knew Hiram, partly because of my own shyness. Also, English was not his first language. Still, he often chose to greet me: ​“Hi-Tom,” he’d say in his heavy Puerto Rican accent, as if the two words were one. I felt like he was acknowledging some connection between us, one I was unaware of.

It’s unclear whether Hiram stopped taking his meds, or they stoppedworking (or both). His estate filed a lawsuit against his psychiatric treaters for negligence; it was later transferred to Waterbury Court, and is scheduled for trial in March, 2010. The suit charges that Hiram was allowed to hold his own medications even though he was a poor candidate to do so. Also, Hiram’s psychiatrist, Dr. Roberto Norniella, changed his medications in the months before the shooting, even though Hiram had been stable for years, sometimes even working.

I don’t think Hiram was responsible for his actions that day; he was probably too far gone to know what he was doing. According to Nov., 2006 coverage of the filing of the lawsuit, in the New Haven Independent and Register, in the last week of his life Hiram spent four days at the St. Raphael’s ER, with severe symptoms including hallucinations. The suit argues that he should have been transferred to an inpatient ward, not released back to his apartment.

It is true that psychiatric patients sometimes deceive their treaters. They may want to escape the stifling, fish-bowl environment of a hospital ward – this may be easier than it used to be, as budgets become more and more strained — or escape the side effects of medications.

Psychiatrists are forever touting their new, favored medications as lacking side effects, but there is wishful thinking here: psych meds, even when they work, tend to have side effects. Some of the most common are movement disorders, weight gain, lethargy (or ​“feeling medicated”), and sexual dysfunction.

As for the actions of the police, it’s easy to imagine scenarios in which Hiram Marrero did not die that day. (Note: New Haven police were not issued tasers until this year.) However, I am not writing this article to criticize the police, but because it should be known and remembered that Hiram was a friendly guy, not a bad guy.

I was born five years before Hiram. Ironically, I was (and am) more temperamental than Hiram, on average. And yet, Hiram’s illness could include psychosis, and mine does not. Without his proper medications, Hiram’s symptoms led to tragedy. Also, I have to believe that Hiram’s appearance, including his obvious physical strength, may have worked against him in those unfortunate circumstances.

I watched the local news coverage following the shooting, and what struck me was that many of those interviewed seemed unsure how to properly identify Hiram, and used various synonyms and euphemisms for ​“psychiatric patient.” Memorably, Police Chief Francisco Ortiz referred to Hiram as ​“an eccentric.” I don’t think Hiram was an eccentric. It would be more accurate to say that he had a chronic medical condition, one that required careful monitoring by public health care.

Lapses occurred, and Hiram died.