By Stephen Stirling
Authorities said police records show at least three incidents in which Tarloff was arrested or detained and evaluated as an “emotionally disturbed person” in the last year. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that during an interrogation Saturday Tarloff indicated that he “may have been institutionalized or incarcerated up to 20 times.”The 39-year-old Corona resident, accused of killing a Manhattan therapist and seriously injuring her colleague, was arrested on assault charges at St. John's Hospital in Far Rockaway, according to a criminal complaint filed in Queens Criminal Court Feb. 2.Police said Tarloff was allegedly observed “touching a critical care patient at said hospital in violation of pre-arranged visitation conditions,” an apparent reference to his mother.Tarloff allegedly became irate when confronted by a security guard, and began yelling and threatening hospital employees before striking the guard in the head and wrestling him to the ground, according to authorities.Tarloff's mother lives in a nursing home in Far Rockaway, and longtime family friend Phyllis Zicherman said the fight occurred because Tarloff's brother, the mother's legal guardian, had barred him from seeing her.Up until she was moved into a nursing home last year, Tarloff lived with his mother in a Corona apartment for most of his life, according to Zicherman, and had been depressed over her departure.He wanted her to come back and he wanted to take care of her,” she said. “He'd go see her all the time.” Tarloff is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 25 on the assault charges.Authorities said they also detained Tarloff in August at his father's home in Staten Island had him psychologically evaluated at Staten Island University Hospital after a domestic disturbance.The Daily News reported that Tarloff was also detained in June after threatening to kill the staff at Midway Nursing Home in Maspeth for refusing to allow him to see his mother. Police said he was evaluated at Elmhurst Hospital in June, but did not elaborate.Zicherman said Tarloff's mother had been moved around to a few nursing homes in Queens in the past year, but did not know why.Reporter Howard Koplowitz contributed to this article. Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e-mail at Sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
