The high school principal in the Mat-Su who was taken away by Alaska State Troopers for a forced psychological evaluation has now retained legal representation.
Mary Fulp, principal at Colony High School, will not be speaking directly to the media, her lawyers said.
Fulp retained the Thompson Law Group to help her through her recent wrongful involuntary commitment, the group reported in a press release.
“She has been contacted by various press agencies to provide a statement, and respectfully, at this time, she asks that all inquires stop, and all communications be directed to her attorney, Darryl L. Thompson, Esq.,” the press release says. “Principal Fulp will not be availing herself to any interviews at this time. Frankly, she needs time to heal. She was forced into a mental health facility without a court order, by those with whom she and the community place their trust, the Department of Public Safety (DPS).”
The law group gave a nod of appreciation to the Department of Public Safety for being transparent about the incident: “DPS has candidly acknowledge their officers should have never forced her into a 72-hour mental health commitment. To DPS’ credit, they have already conceded that their officers did not follow proper procedures to assure that a judge had actually made a determination that she was a risk of harm to herself or others, to justify the deprivation of her freedom.”
Thompson said, “At no time did she pose a risk of harm to herself or others, and she should have never been forcibly placed into a mental health facility. It is clear there was no court order and no judicial finding. Yet she was forced by law enforcement, who carry the badge of trust and the authority of a weapon on their side, into a mental health facility, a horrible nightmare in and of itself. To compound matters, the mental health facility knew it had no valid court order to hold her, yet they allowed the DPS to place her in the facility and kept her there without her consent for days, during which time she was traumatized by inhumane treatment.”
The law group also corroborated what has been reported — that Fulp was strapped to a gurney, held down by several staff members, and was injected with a psychotropic medication without her consent and without a court order authorizing the administration of the medications.
Watch the video that Fulp took of the incident.
“She spent days in a cold dark mental health hospital room, during which time staff breached her federally protected HIPPA rights by disclosing their ‘opinions’ as to her circumstances to individuals who did not possess any authorization to receive her federally protected HIPPA private mental health information,” the law group said.
“This traumatic experience is a free citizen’s worst nightmare, and this broken system has caused her, and her children, inexcusable and immeasurable harm. Respectfully, she needs time to heal, but she does appreciate the outpouring of support for this difficult time,” Thompson said.
Earlier in January, Fulp had recorded a religious message on Facebook. This led to her family confronting her, and eventually two Alaska State Troopers took her away, all based on what is now believed to be a fake court order manufactured by a member of her family.
Fulp was the 2022 Alaska Principal of the Year and is well-respected by her peers. Parents of students at Colony High School told Must Read Alaska that she is well-loved by students and parents and that the school community is shocked that something like this could have happened.
