Amanda Bynes Not Charged With Crime In Fire Incident
After Amanda Bynes set fire to a driveway in Thousand Oaks, California, and was taken into a mental health facility on a 5150 order, no charges will be pressed.
Ventura County sheriff's Capt. Don Aguilar told MTV News on Wednesday (July 24) that no criminal charges will be brought upon Bynes. "She's at a mental health facility now so we're out of the mix," he said of the police's involvement.
Bynes, 27, was placed on an involuntary 72-hour psychiatric hold by California's sheriff's deputies on Monday night after she reportedly set a driveway ablaze. Eyewitnesses have said the fire was started by gasoline that the retired actress had in a little red tank. There were two fires, which gained five feet in height. Amanda could be seen sitting on the ground with her burned dog, flames coming from her pant leg, reports say.
Bonnie Braaten was the woman whose driveway Bynes targeted, and she spoke out earlier on Wednesday about the incident. "I have no idea what she was doing," Braaten said, noting that she's been told that Bynes' parents live nearby. "I don't even think she has an idea what she was doing."
Police say that Bynes was unable to give comprehendible answers and she was then taken into mental-health custody on a 5150 order.
"The maximum is a 72 hour hold, but in most cases they don't need 72 hours," Rusty Selix, executive director of the Mental Health Association of California, told MTV News about the 5150 procedure.
"For someone to be admitted, a judicial proceeding takes place and someone has to make a finding that the person is a danger to themself or others ... [with the act of] setting fires in a driveway it is not problem to make that determination," he said. "You have to determine that it's a result of mental illness and there's usually a second order to medicate the person with or without their consent."
