Questions Raised after Fatal Accident in Granville

By Sandy Cooch

A 33-year-old Granville man known to have chronic mental health problems was killed last Friday afternoon in a head-on accident that also injured a Rochester man.

According to Cpl. Randy Broulliard, state police in Royalton, Herbert Bisson was southbound on Route 100, in Granville at 4:45 p.m., when his 1993 Subaru Legacy crossed the Route 100 centerline, and collided head-on with a 2007 Chevrolet Silverado driven by Douglas Billings, 67, of Rochester.

Bisson was declared dead at the scene, and Billings suffered facial cuts and a broken heel, police said. Both men had been wearing seatbelts; both vehicles were totaled.

This week, some of the Route 100 valley residents who loved—and were sometimes afraid of—Herbie Bisson were wondering whether they—or law enforcement or mental health providers—might have done more to intervene.

Bisson suffered from chronic health problems—manic/depressive, bi-polar disorder, his father said this week—and his death came after several days of increasingly incoherent and scary behavior.

In the days and hours before Friday’s 4:45 p.m. fatal crash, Bisson’s behavior caused enough alarm that several people called mental health and law enforcement officials urging that he be taken into protective custody.

One of those people was Hubbard’s Store owner Peter Harvey, who said this week that he has been the person, for the last five or six years, who would annually call The Counseling Service of Addison County, and then state police, to arrange for Bisson to be taken into custody.

Bisson, who functioned well for most of the year, struggled each winter, and had ended up hospitalized each winter for perhaps the last six winters, Harvey said.

Harvey took on the task, because he genuinely liked Bisson, and because Bisson used Harvey’s store "as his base."

Harvey wasn’t the only person worried last week. Bisson’s father, Rodney Bisson of Rochester, said this week that he had been placing calls to his son’s mental health counselor since the beginning of January.

Tried To Intervene

Bisson’s neighbor, Caine Gurley, even tried twice—without success—to disable Bisson’s car on Friday, Gurley’s mother, Nancy Maston said this week.

Bisson, a loving, giving, and appreciative person when he was on his medications, "was scary when he got to this point," she said..

"Herbert was probably the worst I’d ever seen him this time," Harvey said this week. "On Friday, he got to the point where he couldn’t talk."

His behavior, including an unnerving stare and unsettling growls, was upsetting his employees and patrons on Thursday and Friday, Harvey noted.

Following the routine established in prior years, Harvey called Bisson’s mental health provider on Thursday, and again Friday. At the counselor’s request, Harvey called state police. It was about 3:30 p.m., just an hour and 15 minutes before the crash.

This week Cpl. Brouillard confirmed that the Royalton barracks had been contacted.

"Some calls were being placed to mental health and some things were being put in motion by this office," Brouillard said. However, he added, the accident occurred "before anything could happen."

Brouillard said he was aware that Bisson had been pulled over by Granville Constable Mark Belisle earlier on Friday.

"I believe it was in reference to a gas drive off," Brouillard said.

According to Rodney Bisson, his son had put $6.66 worth of gas in his car, and driven off without paying.

No Comment

Bob Thorn, the executive director of The Counseling Service of Addison County, said this week that confidentiality requirements made it impossible to comment, or for that matter, to confirm if Bisson were a patient.

Peter Harvey said that many in the area are hoping that Bisson’s death will spark an investigation into "what broke down," and more generally into the laws, and legal constraints, around involuntary committals.

"We’re pretty angry over here," he said.

"He didn’t deserve to die, and the other driver didn’t deserve to be injured—justice wasn’t done," Harvey said. "He (Bisson) also had a right to be protected—he was a danger to himself and to others."

"I guess the community is confused," is how Nancy Maston put it.

In the past, Maston said, "Herbie would do this, and everyone would make calls, and he would be hospitalized, and made to take his medications, and he would do okay."

Maston said she and others are also wondering if they should have done more.

"We’re all feeling a level of guilt that we didn’t make a bigger scene," she said.