Parents: A man accused of killing a cyclist has had a mental illness



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The parents of a Florida man accused of accidentally spilling and killing a cyclist for a family bike ride said Monday that their son has struggled for years with a profound mental illness.

The Tampa Police said Mikese Morse, a 30-year-old former Olympian, "deliberately left the road" Sunday afternoon, cutting traffic and carrying a servitude, killing Pedro Aguerreberry, 42. One of the two sons who went out with their father was seriously injured.

Michael and Khadeeja Morse told the Associated Press that their son was in the grip of a psychotic crisis. They also said that they are devastated after trying to help it over the years.

"The system failed, they failed our child, they failed this family, we tried everything, it should never have happened, and now our child is also affected and it hurts someone's family." one of the others, "said Khadeeja Morse crying. "He was a good kid with a mental health problem that we tried to get."

Mikese Morse appeared visibly angry and increasingly incoherent in the videos posted Sunday morning on Instagram. They show him talking about acting on behalf of the Lord by walking around a Wal-Mart store. A video ends, "I'm going to kill someone tonight now."

In another video posted later Sunday, Morse speaks to the camera and says, "Yeah, heck, it's your fault, yeah, heck, it's your fault, it's all your fault because that you came down to earth, you knew exactly what to do, you said you do not care about anyone here.

Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan told reporters that a witness described the driver of a Dodge Avenger who turned around Sunday, crossing the traffic and driving a bondage before hitting. the family and go off quickly.

The father was pulling a child in a trailer while his eldest son was following behind on an off-road bike trail. All wore helmets. Aguerreberry was killed and Bennett, his three-year-old son, was seriously injured. Lucas, his 8 year old son, was not seriously injured.

After his arrest on Sunday night, Morse was jailed and charged with premeditated first degree murder and leaving the scene of an accident with a death and injury. The prison records do not mention a defense lawyer for him.

The Walrus said their son was mentally challenged since his early twenties, while trying to pursue a track career.

As an athlete, Morse has specialized in long jump. He attended the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he won the Big East Championship for jumping 25 feet and 7 and a half inches (7.81 meters). He also attended the University of Miami. He has qualified for the US Olympic Trials three times and was a finalist in 2008 and 2016, but he has never been part of the team.

The parents said that they had spoken with police and therapists after Morse started using social media and making videos that were sometimes incomprehensible and disturbing.

"We pointed them out on his social networks, we stopped following him because it was very disturbing," said Khadeeja Morse.

But she added that she and her husband were limited in what they could do because their son is an adult.

Two weeks ago, they said, their son entered a Tampa police station and told them that he was not doing well and asked to be involuntarily committed. An officer took him to a mental health center, where he had already been seen.

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His parents said that while he was in the institution, he had an altercation with another person and that the institution released him on June 19. He then refused to take his medication and he could not take his medication. with them.

"It works very well now," said his mother, who said she was giving some advice to the doctors at the facility. "He is very intelligent, he will be able to speak, not listen to what he says, monitor his behavior."

On Sunday, Khadeeja Morse was planning to have dinner for the family. But instead, the police knocked on the door of their pale yellow house in a posh suburban neighborhood. That night, the authorities took their son into custody. Authorities said that someone had spotted the vehicle north of downtown Tampa and called 911.

The court records show that Morse has already been cited for a handful of traffic citations, including driving with a suspended license and driving a vehicle in a dangerous state. He was quoted last year for possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, a civil offense in the city of Tampa.

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