Former Point Reyes Light publisher David Mitchell (pictured) is suing Marin County, claiming he was falsely imprisoned when a sheriff’s deputy took him to a mental health ward because he suspected the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist was suicidal, the Marin IJ reports. Mitchell, 63, said in the suit that in March 2006 a deputy came to his home and quizzed him about his mental state. Mitchell admitted he spoke philosophically about suicide. The deputy took Mitchell to Marin General Hospital, where he was confined to the mental ward. During that same month, Mitchell was hit with a temporary restraining order requiring him to stay away from the man who purchased his newspaper, Robert Plotkin. Plotkin, a former prosecutor, claimed Mitchell grabbed him by the throat while the two were driving in a car, and that Mitchell crashed his car through the paper’s door. The Point Reyes Light, with Mitchell as editor, won a Pulitzer in 1979 when it exposed the violent Synanon Cult.