Former Trump campaign chief forcibly hospitalized after mental breakdown

A still from the video showing the arrest of Brad Parscale, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Brad Parscale, who was Donald Trump's campaign manager until July, was forcibly hospitalized after barricading himself with weapons in his home and his wife's fear of a possible suicide, Fort Lauderdale, Florida police confirmed.

The official report of the incident, to which the Efe agency had access, revealed that Candice Parscale, Brad's wife, called the emergency service on Sunday because she feared that her husband would shoot himself.

The woman assured officers who arrived at her home in Fort Lauderdale, a city 30 miles north of Miami, that Parscale had been "talking excitedly to himself and then heard a gunshot."

"Soon after, the man leaned out of a window" and after disappearing from sight he heard another sound like another shot, said Candice Parscale.

"The wife refused to enter the house and said she was scared," the report continues.

Once the policemen had eye contact with the man, they reported that he was sitting on the ground, shirtless and wearing a hat, while talking on the phone, visibly upset.

In a statement to the

newspaper

police officer Timothy Skaggs, a family friend, appeared on the scene and called Parscale by phone to convince him to leave.

"He was babbling, like he was under the influence of an alcoholic beverage and it looked like he was crying," the officer explained.

Video of the incident shows Candice Parscale, in a bikini and covered by a white coat, telling police outside her home that she had had an altercation with her husband and that she saw him load his pistol as he left his study.

Brad Parscale left his home, shirtless, wearing shorts and a can of beer in hand, after a police officer repeatedly asked him by phone to come out unarmed.

One officer unexpectedly knocked him down by the legs, and two more handcuffed him behind his back.

"I did nothing!

I didn't do anything! ”Said the detainee.

Parscale was taken to a hospital near his home for a psychiatric evaluation.

There he was detained under a Florida law (Baker Act), which authorizes the authorities to involuntarily maintain hospitalized up to 72 hours a person who is declared "mentally unstable and who may be a harm to himself or others."

The police report also revealed that after the incident, officers seized 10 firearms at the residence, of which two were rifles, two shotguns, a 22-caliber revolver, and five pistols.

According to the incident report, Candice Parscale, 41, had claimed that her husband suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome and had become violent in recent weeks.

Parscale was an official part of Trump's team from 2015 until July of this year, when he was fired from his position as head of the campaign for the re-election of the US president.

According to the local press, his departure was caused by the failure of the first proselytizing rally organized in the city of Tulsa (Oklahoma).

However, he had remained linked to Trump's electoral operation.

“Brad Parscale is a member of our family and we all love him.

We stand ready to support him and his family in any way possible, ”said Trump's campaign communication chief for the November election, Tim Murtaugh.