Editor, Manteca Bulletin,
It is with a sad heart that I feel I must write this letter.  

Jeremy Lum was a young man that I have known since birth. He was a smart, polite young man, one that loved his family and friends and one that I never seen drink alcohol. In recent years he became a troubled young man probably due to his bi-polar disease, which made him confused and more reclusive. As his family has maintained a home across from me in which they lived and his youngest brother still resides I witnessed Jeremy come there and sometimes he spoke but more often he seemed lost. So, I feel in my opinion, a grave injustice was given to him by our Lathrop Police and the San Joaquin Sheriff’s County Jail.

He was picked up very near his home because he was thought to be “under the influenece”, they then take his dog home and no-one even got him a pair of shoes.  His extended family all live close within less than a mile and it was said they tried to reach his father, who  normally lives in Washington state.

He was taken to jail where he told them he was bi-polar but was he taken to the county hospital, close by. He he was released sometime around 7 a.m., without shoes to walk wereever, his family were not contacted to come pick him up. The tragedy of this appalling situation is he did not make it safely back home and thus he leaves a very grieving family, but someone, somewhere should see this so-called protocol is changed so other families do not have to experience this, like I am sure the family of the elderly man with the Alzheimers who did not make it safely home a few years back.

I feel regardless of the arrest, once a person is released from the county jail everything in the county’s power should be done to ensure that person is safely returned to their home, a responsible relative, a safe haven and especially in the case of mental impairment a hospital. I’m a lifetime neighbor of Jeremy Lum and his family.