Fort Worth Man Who Stole Forklift Says He’s Back on Track

FORT WORTH (WBAP/KLIF News) A Fort Worth man who suffers from mental illness says he’s turned his life around. Timothy Raines stole a forklift in 2011, and led police on a low speed chase down University Drive.  Video shows him throwing empty beer bottles at passing cars, while driving about 16 miles an hour. Raines told the Star Telegram that he was not on his medication and suffers from bipolar and schizoaffective disorders. He said he thought at the time that someone was chasing him to hurt him. Raines was ruled mentally incompetent and ordered into a program to restore his mental stability. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison but was released a year ago. He says the difference between drugs and mental illness is that on drugs, he knows what to expect, but with the illness, he doesn’t. Raines now works in construction and says after taking it 5 times, he finally passed the state’s competency exam.

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