#The heartbreaking events that led to ex-Dodger Andrew Toles’ arrest

When former Dodgers outfielder Andrew Toles was arrested on June 22 while sleeping outside of the Key West Airport in Florida, his family felt one overwhelming emotion: relief.

“It’s really crazy to say, but the mug shot, really, was the best thing ever,” Andrew’s sister, Morgan Toles, told USA Today. “We didn’t know whether he was dead or alive.”

For Toles’ family, jail is better than the alternative. The 28-year-old has spent much of the past year and a half homeless, alternating between brief stints in mental health facilities and longer stretches on the run in various parts of the world. Though the recent Florida arrest was the first time his troubles were made public, his heartbreaking story stretches back months.

Toles was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in early 2019. He had been with the Dodgers weeks earlier, and after he informed them he was going on a trip, he disappeared and stopped answering their calls. His family placed him in a mental health facility, but he left after two weeks.

The next anyone heard from him was in February 2019, when he crashed his car in Arizona and was found wandering along a desert highway. He received his official diagnosis, which his family and the Dodgers kept a secret, telling the press he was away from the team for “personal reasons,” according to USA Today.

After a period of time under the care of Dodgers medical director Ron Porterfield and a brief reconnection with his family, Toles ran away – and has been running ever since.

“He keeps running,” his father Alvin told USA Today. “He’s in this state of paranoia. He’s running from people. He just keeps running like someone is after him. He really needs help before it’s too late.”

His family wants to place him under legal guardianship, but they are not allowed to do so without his consent. They haven’t seen him in months. The Key West incident was the second in two weeks – he was also arrested in Kentucky under similar circumstances.

Over the holidays, he was arrested in Hong Kong for stealing from a gas station and spent a month in prison. Morgan helped secure his release with the US Embassy, but he disappeared when he returned to the country.

His father is currently en route to Florida to see his son, who is currently in a hospital. An anonymous donor secured his bail, which actually ended up being counter-productive as it just put him back on the streets. Toles has an arraignment on Thursday, and the family hopes he will show.

“I don’t particularly care if my brother plays baseball again,’’ Morgan said. “I just want him to be a functioning human being in society. I know there are laws that protect him. But those same laws hurt him. My brother has been really sick, and he doesn’t even know it.

“We want to get guardianship, but to do that without his consent, he has to be a threat to himself or someone else. So basically, you’re waiting for something tragic to happen.