Tyson off his anti-depressant throws prison tantrum
Mike Tyson was taken off his antidepressant medication several days before he threw a jailhouse tantrum and smashed a TV set, landing himself in solitary confinement, the jailed boxer's lawyer said yesterday. "If this came about because of somebody tinkering with his medication, I'm going to be very upset," said the ex-champ's lawyer, Paul Kemp.
He said Tyson had also stopped taking the prescription drug Zoloft before flying into the fit of road rage that earned him his latest trip to the slammer.
"It's the exact same situation that got recreated. This is exactly what we feared would happen" when he went to prison, Kemp told The Post.
Tyson, who was sentenced Feb. 5 to a year in prison for beating up two motorists after an August 1998 fender-bender, will have a disciplinary hearing at the Montgomery County Detention Center in Rockville, Md., as early as today.
The fighter once known as the Baddest Man on the Planet was watching TV with a few other inmates in a jailhouse community area on Friday afternoon when he flew into a rage, correction officials said.
Kemp said he wasn't sure what set the fighter off, but a source close to the Tyson camp said he went off the handle when guards told him his TV time was up.
Jail officials said Iron Mike picked up the 25-inch Sanyo and smashed it against the bars of the community room.
"He was upset. He had not been medicated, and something happened, and he broke the TV," Kemp said.
"He's already replaced it."
The TV cost less than $300, Kemp said.
Prison officials will decide on Tyson's punishment at the closed prison hearing - including a possible loss of good-behavior time, visitation rights or other privileges.
His lawyers fear the episode could endanger his chances of getting a reduced sentence or of entering the county's work-release program.
Kemp said Tyson was taken off the medication around Monday or Tuesday - but his dosage had already been reduced several days before that.
He said he wasn't told of the change at the time and doesn't know why it was made.
Kemp said Correction Department Director Russ Hamill had Tyson put back on the medicine Saturday and allowed Iron Mike - who was thrown into solitary confinement after the incident - to receive a visit from his psychiatrist, Dr. Richard Goldberg of Georgetown University.
The source said a psychiatrist for the Correction Department cut Tyson off the medication when the boxer refused to undergo a new psychiatric evaluation.
Jail spokesman Eric Seleznow refused to comment on Tyson's medication or to give further details of the brouhaha.
Tyson spent three years in prison in Indiana for raping a beauty-pageant contestant in 1991.
In June 1997, he bit Evander Holyfield on both ears during a bizarre title bout - and his boxing license was revoked.
-- William Neuman - 2/21/99