DETROIT (WXYZ) — The family of Michael Moza is hurt and angry after they say he was released from the Crisis Center at Detroit Receiving Hospital without treatment for his paranoid schizophrenia.
"He said he told the doctors that if anything happened to him, it would be on them," said Meagan Davis, one of Moza's sisters. "He just wanted help."
"Why would they release him?" said sister Priscilla Moza. "They should have gave him his meds before he left that hospital."
Detroit police believe Moza was involved in a shooting at a house on Cabot Street around 4 a.m. Tuesday morning in southwest Detroit.
About an hour later, a friend dropped him off at a polling location where Moza was set to work for the day.
"I guess he was sick then," the friend, who did not want to be identified, told 7 Action News.
Moza had been without his medication and his mental health was declining, according to his sisters.
But they say Moza knew when to get help and, before he was to begin working the poll, he reportedly called for police to take him to the Crisis Center where he remained for several hours before he was released without the treatment we're told he needed.
Then around 1 o'clock early Wednesday morning, Detroit Police believe Moza went back to the same house he allegedly shot up the day before and did it again.
But this time, police were able to get a description of his vehicle from a business with Green Light cameras.
Police spotted Moza but he refused to stop his vehicle and officers began pursing him. The pursuit was terminated because of safety concerns.
But Moza returned to the area and two sergeants were involved in trying to stop Moza again and he took police on a second chase.
Police say Moza fired shots and they returned fire. Moza then crashed into a parked truck and later died.
Wednesday afternoon, at a press conference with reporters, Chief Craig laid out some of the details in Moza's case including Moza's own attempts to get help for his mental health issues.
"When are we going to find out what's going on at the Crisis Center?" Chief Craig asked.
Craig said Moza was still wearing the hospital wristband when he died.
"I'm talking specifically about the DRH Crisis Center," Craig said. "I'm unapologetic. Unapologetic. Too many lives are being lost."
When Action News contacted the Detroit Medical Center to ask about Moza's contact, a spokesperson would only say, "We don't have any information to provide about this individual."
Action News asked for additional information and whether the hospital was looking into what happened, but the spokesperson declined to say anything further.
"You can't just have paranoid schizophrenics come to you for help and you release them and whatever happens happens. That just seems unacceptable," said Moza's sister, Meagan. "Now, our brother is dead."
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