Months after a bizarre rampage resulting in an estimated $200,000 worth of damage on trees around the city, a Brooklyn man has been declared mentally unfit to defend himself against charges of criminal mischief. Thirty-five year old Steve Maynard is a former construction worker who is receiving disability due to a severe head injury sustained on the job. According to available sources, he discontinued the psychiatric medication that he had been taking and began ripping the branches off trees on Eastern Parkway and Prospect Park in mid-June. Most of the tree branches were left as debris around the tree trunks and led to considerable outrage on the part of local residents. As many of forty trees were vandalized and led to local blogs posting information on "Steve sightings". He was finally caught in the act in July and charged with criminal mischief.
Following a psychiatric assessment, Maynard was declared mentally unfit to assist in his own defense. As stated in the forensic psychiatric report, he was hunting for the body of a local girl named "Amy" whom he believed had been killed by demons living in the trees. Since his identity was known to local residents, many of them outraged by his actions, they even went so far as to scatter branches on the courtyard outside his mother's nearby home. His family is reportedly distressed by Maynard's actions and the resulting publicity. Family members have indicated their frustration in dealing with him and the refusal of psychiatric hospitals to keep him longer than the minimum period allowed.
"Steve sightings" date back to April 19 when a "Tree Branch Breaker" thread was started on the Brooklynian blog with numerous physical descriptions of Maynard. The long-running thread included messages such as, "I think once you see Steve you will know it's him. It's like seeing a UFO. You don't know what it looks like, but once you see one, you know what you've seen" and even included descriptions of direct encounters: "I saw Crazy Steve today. He stood on Franklin glaring either at an overhead tree branch, or two women with a baby in a carriage". Given the anger that his vandalism has aroused, there is only muted sympathy for Maynard's illness. One Parks employee described him as, "one seriously disturbed individual... I don’t know what is the right assistance or intervention, but my suspicion is that jail is probably not the answer".
He is to be held in a psychiatric facility in upstate New York until he is deemed ready for trial.
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