Justin Joseph, Reporting
DENVER (KDVR) - Seven months later, life has changed dramatically for Carmen Tisch.
“I was a pill popper, heroin addict. I was in the methadone clinic for while,” Tisch said. “And when I got off the methadone that`s when I started drinking a lot. That`s when I was doing the bath salt.”
Tisch blames dangerous bath salts for the day last November when she walked into the Clyfford Still Museum, approached a painting valued at around $30 million and urinated while leaning up against it.
Surveillance cameras captured the ordeal.
“They actually measured my pee puddle,” Tisch said. “I Don`t know why. Evidence, I guess... I'm kind of scared to watch it just to see myself like that. Friends were telling me that it looked like I had something in my hand hitting and scratching it, or whatever.”
Tisch doesn’t remember any of that. She finally “came to” hours later in jail.
After police told her what she had done, amazingly, her first thought was how lucky she was.
“I was in shock,” Tisch said. “I was ashamed and also a little relieved that I didn`t murder somebody.”
Tisch has since spent time in jail, two psychiatric wards and is now on intensive probation.
She is tested for drugs and alcohol every week, but says there are only two things she needs to inspire her sobriety. She has a tattoo on her right ankle to remind her what they are.
“I got God, and I also have a daughter,” Tisch said. “My daughter, she comes in my mind every time now.”
That, and the reminder of the most painful day in her life.
“I`m an artist myself,” Tisch said. “I`m sorry. I`m ashamed about what happened.”
