On the surface, it’s difficult to see what could have led T.J. Miller — or anyone else, for that matter — to call in a fake bomb threat. As the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut wrote, Miller had been seen earlier that evening having “hostile exchanges” with a woman in the Amtrak train’s first-class car. Train employees said that Miller had boarded the train drunk, had some drinks while on board, and got kicked off in New York because of it. Meanwhile, Miller stated that he’d had “one glass of red wine” up to that point, and when asked if he had a mental illness he replied, “No, absolutely not.”
However, that’s not exactly true. In fact, as Deadline writes, Miller had undergone brain surgery several years prior for an unspecified congenital brain deformity. He learned about this condition in 2010, opted for surgery after suffering a brain hemorrhage and seizures, and had a “golf ball-sized” portion of his frontal lobe removed. Thus began his increasingly erratic behavior — as we cited on Oxygen, and which Vulture corroborates — that culminated in what Miller calls the “manic episode” that led to him calling in the fake bomb threat. By all accounts, Miller legitimately believed that the lady he called into the police was a threat. Variety states as much, saying that such considerations — plus Miller’s mental health history and willingness to pay for the police response to his call – led to his charges being dropped.
