BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
A man who was bitten by a police dog after attacking a gay man in downtown Palo Alto while allegedly yelling homophobic slurs was suffering from “delusions of grandeur,” which started when he took ecstasy during a concert at Stanford, his attorney Dan Barton said.
Barton is asking Judge Julianne Sylva to grant a mental health diversion to his client, Alexander Furrier, which would allow Furrier to get the charges against him dismissed if he gets mental health treatment.
A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 31, and Deputy District Attorney Tessa Stephenson said she plans to oppose the motion.
Furrier, 26, is facing charges of felony battery, assault and hate crime stemming from his arrest on Oct. 10, 2021, when he allegedly knocked out a man wearing women’s clothing at the corner of University Avenue and Waverley Street.
Furrier has also filed a $5 million legal claim against the city of Palo Alto, alleging that police officers gave him conflicting commands before hastily deploying a police dog, leaving him with gashes in his leg.
Furrier started seeing and hearing things in September 2015 after he took psychedelic drugs at a music festival, Barton said.
He had to be involuntarily hospitalized and put on medication at Stanford, Barton said. By 2018, he was doing better. He graduated from UC-Davis and had jobs in the computer data industry, Barton said.
Furrier’s mental health was largely stable until the weeks leading up to his arrest, when he and three friends went to a concert at Frost Amphitheater and took ecstasy, Barton said.