College student apologizing to campus police after bipolar-related incident — anything I should avoid saying?
Hi everyone. I’m a college student and would really appreciate some advice, especially from lawyers or anyone familiar with school disciplinary situations.
Earlier this year, I was investigated by campus police for damaging school property. I never attacked or hurt anyone physically, but I understand that other people were still affected by what happened. The police ultimately turned the disciplinary side over to my school, so I was not arrested or criminally charged.
Shortly after the incident, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and doctors determined that I was experiencing a manic episode during the time everything happened. Before this, I had never been in therapy and did not know I had bipolar disorder. Looking back now, there were warning signs, but at the time I was terrified of asking for help because I thought people would see me as “crazy” or force me into a hospital.
Since the incident, I’ve started medication and therapy and have been trying really hard to take my mental health seriously. I’ve also been working through abuse from someone in my life that turned out to be a major trigger for the episode.
One of the strangest and hardest parts of all of this is that I genuinely do not remember large parts of that time period very clearly. I know that sounds unbelievable, but I barely remember my birthday or other important events from around that time either. Realizing afterward what happened and how out of control I was has honestly been terrifying and humiliating.
I want to be clear that I am not trying to avoid responsibility or use bipolar disorder as an excuse. I know there was still damage and still an impact on other people, even if there was no intent. I feel deeply guilty and ashamed about it, and I’ve spent a lot of time blaming myself for not getting help sooner.
Part of my school disciplinary outcome is apologizing directly to the campus police officers for the time and energy they spent dealing with the incident. I have that conversation soon over Zoom, and I’m honestly really nervous.
My main question is: from a legal/professional perspective, is there anything I should avoid saying during this conversation? I want to be sincere and accountable, but I also don’t want to accidentally say something that could somehow hurt me later, especially since I was never formally charged.
I’m not trying to get out of accountability at all. I just want to handle this maturely and respectfully.