Jill Porter: What was the hammer attacker doing on the street?

YOU CAN'T look at the graphic video of the harrowing subway hammer attack without asking the obvious question:

What was this guy doing on the street?

The mental-health system had a chance to keep Thomas Scantling hospitalized, but it failed. He was released from a treatment facility a few weeks ago after being involuntarily committed, even though his family believed he was still dangerous.

In Philadelphia, that happens more than it should, according to an advocate.

Even when patients need continued treatment, they're often let go at the mental-health hearing that's mandatory after the initial three days of involuntary hospitalization.

You can guess the reasons.

Not enough hospital beds.

Not enough insurance coverage.

In other words: money.

Tell all that to Dewayne Taylor, the innocent 20-year-old who was attacked on the subway last week.

And tell that to the other victims of this horrible incident, including Scantling's 6-year-old son, who was taken from his grandmother and put into foster care this week.

Let me say right here that the vast majority of people with mental illness are NOT violent. They're more likely to be a victim of an assault than to attack anyone.

But this kind of presumably preventable incident reinforces the stereotype that so stigmatizes people with mental illness.

Scantling began showing evidence of schizophrenia several years ago, and it escalated over time, said his sister, Kim Frazier.

His paranoia and irrationality finally led his family to involuntarily commit him.

"He thought everyone was out to get him, that the phones were tapped," Frazier said.

One night before his recent hospitalization, Scantling asked his father for a ride home, but his father circled the block where his son was supposed to be and couldn't find him. Scantling was hiding in the bushes so that he couldn't be seen by his imaginary stalkers, Frazier said.

But after four days at Charter Fairmount Behavioral Hospital, in Roxborough, Scantling was released after a mental-health hearing.

"They just let him go, without medications, they just let him go," his sister said.

"He shouldn't have been let out," said Joseph Rogers, chief advocacy officer of the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Charter Fairmount's chief executive, Geoff Botak, said he couldn't comment because of privacy mandates.

But the problem isn't with the law that requires a hearing within 72 hours for someone who's been involuntarily committed - the usual culprit cited by critics after a horrific incident like this.

"The law very much protects people's rights, and is designed to serve their needs, but, unfortunately, that's not how it's carried out," said Debbie Plotnick, director of advocacy at the mental-health association.

It's the way that the law is "misinterpreted," and people who are "rightfully in need of treatment are put out in a couple of days," she said.

"It often comes down to money," Plotnick said, "a lack of in-patient space, a lack of ability to pay for services."

Obviously, determining whether someone is a danger to himself or others - the criterion used to continue involuntary commitment - isn't an exact science.

But mental-health hearing officers complain that it's difficult to keep people hospitalized in Philadelphia, more so than elsewhere, Rogers said.

And when the system fails as egregiously as it did here, many people pay the price.

The video showed another side of Thomas Scantling - the side his family often saw.

He was a loving, caring person who was devoted to his son, Maurice.

The video showed Scantling kissing Maurice before the brutal hammer attack.

"They were a team," Scantling's sister said. "Where you saw Maurice, you saw Thomas.

"That little boy loves him to death."

Wednesday, the day after Scantling's arrest, the city's Department of Human Services took Maurice out of his grandmother's house and put him in foster care.

"Maurice lived with me for almost four years," said the grandmother, Scantling's mother, Toni Frazier. "He was very, very upset; he screamed and hollered."

DHS spokeswoman Alicia Taylor would say only that the agency determined that Maurice should be removed from the house. A hearing is scheduled for today to see if he can be placed with a family member.

There are other victims, too.

Among them are taxpayers, who will pay for Scantling's imprisonment.

Among them are Thomas Scantling, whose illness could be treated.

And most importantly, of course, is Dewayne Taylor, who could have been spared a brutal attack on his way home from work. *

E-mail porterj@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5850. For recent columns:

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