A 33-year-old Palm Coast man’s mental health breakdown and subsequent arrest on Thursday highlights the depth of needs for services for people in crisis as well as the perils law enforcement and health care providers–the first line of response–face when attempting to manage the crisis, as do families. But individuals and families can turn to available help beyond court-ordered requirements.
The incident is not unusual. Law enforcement and care providers face similar situations several times a week, though this one was more pronounced, the threats more overt and the presence of weapons a graver consideration. It took place in part in Palm Coast’s W-Section Thursday afternoon, and in part at AdventHealth Palm Coast, the hospital. Eric’s (*) 57-year-old mother had called authorities to report that her son was in crisis, and that he was threatening to kill himself with a gun, in a house with numerous firearms.
Soon after Flagler County Sheriff‘s deputies arrived, they saw Eric walk down his house’s driveway, shirtless, then away from deputies, ignoring their commands to stop and talk to them. “I think I’m going to steal your car,” Eric told one of the deputies as Eric, who was not armed, walked toward the patrol car. The deputy warned him not to.
Eric turned around to face the deputy in a fighting stance, cocked his right arm and attempted to strike the deputy in the face. The deputy dodged. A struggle followed. The deputy took Eric to the ground as he continued to fight back and kick. It took a second deputy’s help to secure Eric and place him in a patrol car. A witness who watched the incident provided deputies with a corroborating statement. The deputy did not sustain any injuries.
In crisis or not, individuals quickly begin accumulating charges when they act as Eric did. At that point he already faced a felony charge of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest with violence, even though there was no question that he would be placed under a Baker Act–which had been his family’s intention. The arresting officer had also determined that he should be taken to the hospital, “due to him possibly experiencing excited delirium.”
A Baker Act is the involuntary commitment of an individual to a mental health crisis center facility when the individual is deemed a threat to self or others. Those facilities may be either SMA Healthcare or Halifax hospital, especially if an individual has medical complications. The confinement may last up to three days for evaluation and treatment. It does not replace or negate criminal charges or subsequent confinement at the county jail, but it usually stabilizes the person and maps out a course of care to follow after the Baker Act.
Eric’s agitation only grew as he was taken to the hospital. He assured a deputy that he would break out of his handcuffs and run away, and that he would fight other deputies. Additional deputies were dispatched to the hospital as Eric told them: “Watch because this is going to be a show.” He again resisted deputies’ efforts to secure him to a hospital bed. Another struggle ensued before they managed to get him back to a patrol car once he was cleared to leave by hospital care-givers.
On the drive to the jail, Eric, who is white, leveled racist remarks at the deputy in the car, who is Asian. And he threatened him: “I’m going to come find you when this is over,” Eric said, according to his arrest report. “I swear to god. I swear on my life, I will find you.” He told the deputy he did not care how many houses he would have to search, “I will murder you.” The threat added further charges. By evening’s end, when he was booked at the jail, Eric faced two third degree felony charges and two misdemeanor, though they are likely either to be pleaded down or dismissed. He was being held on $28,000 bond and is under court order, should be be released, to comply with a series of restrictions.
What happens next–at the crisis center, at the jail and after pre-trial release–is a series of steps that, while challenging, can address the crisis through various available means, says Jeannette Simmons, chief clinical officer at Flagler Cares, the social service coordinating agency in Palm Coast.
The crisis center will make the first assessment to determine the next level of care. “Hopefully he remains either in some facility or something like that, until that assessment can be completed, because it sounds like he needs a higher level of care and some med stabilization and figuring out what is going on with him,” Simmons.
At home, the weapons should be secured. Eric is under court order to have no possession of firearms. But that does not necessarily apply to others in the house who own the firearms, unless the Sheriff’s Office were to launch what’s called a risk protection order–invoking the sort of red-flag law that authorizes the sheriff, by court order, to seize weapons from a home where they could pose a more imminent danger. But risk-protection orders take time.
“The weapons I hope would be secured, and that would be a conversation, as a counselor at any organization–knowing that this was one of the reasons he was hospitalized–would be my question for a safe discharge home: Have the weapons been secured, and are they out of his reach. And then secondly, who is supporting the family as well, because obviously this is also traumatizing to them. So I would want to connect them with resources for counseling or any of those other details.” (Simmons commended the Sheriff’s deputy for taking Eric to the hospital first for evaluation.)
What happens once Eric is released from jail? That’s in part defined by the court’s requirement that he submits to a mental health evaluation within 10 days of release from custody. “More than likely it is probably SMA, because they are the ones who do this court ordered assessment,” Simmons said. But people in Eric’s situation are not on their own. “This is obviously a very high need, high risk case, and because it does involve the sheriff’s office, and it sounds like it involves the court, and he is more than likely at a receiving facility that is obligated to ensure he has a good discharge plan and has care coordinated, he would not just walk out of there and have to figure it out on his own.”
Flagler Cares itself is not a crisis center authorized to complete the kind of assessment people like Eric would need: the state defines precisely who may complete those assessments. But that base is covered. “What we could do and help with is we’d obviously provide the family some support if they want, some individual counseling or if they are in need of some other types of support,” Simmons said. “Maybe if he’s struggling, he doesn’t have SSI, SSDI, and he needs that, there could be some help there.” Even if certain services are not exactly what Flagler Cares can itself provide, its staff would be advocates for people like Eric, “ensuring they are connected to the right community partners and providers.”
(*) The individual’s name has been changed.
The following resources are available for individuals in crisis:
In Flagler: The Crisis Triage and Treatment Unit (CTTU) is a crisis assessment and referral service for Flagler County residents experiencing behavioral health crisis. It is located at 301 Justice Lane in the Brown & Brown Outpatient building at the Vince Carter Sanctuary in Bunnell. This program is limited to individuals escorted to the program by law enforcement between the hours of noon and midnight daily. Law enforcement is able to transport individuals to SMA to assess and determine the appropriate clinical disposition. When required and appropriate, SMA then transports the individual to a receiving facility in Volusia County.
In Daytona Beach: Stewart-Marchman Act Corporation Crisis Center
1220 Willis Avenue
Daytona Beach, FL 32114
Crisis Line: (800) 539 – 4228
Available 24 hours.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 800/273-8255 (TALK), or use the online Lifeline Crisis Chat, both available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Flagler Cares’ Behavioral Health Counselors can assist individuals with gaining access to mental health services and substance use disorder treatment. They can also help navigate mental health coverage for most insurance plans to help find in-network providers. We also have onsite services at HEAL Recovery which offers Medication Assisted Treatment and Certified Recovery Peer Specialists. Services can be initiated by completing a request for help, calling 386-319-9483 or visiting 160 Cypress Point Parkway, B302, Palm Coast Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. All services provided by Flagler Cares are free of charge to the client.
Veterans Crisis Line: 1-800-273-8255.
People 60 and older can call the Institute on Aging’s 24-hour, toll-free Friendship Line at 800-971-0016. IOA also makes ongoing outreach calls to lonely older adults.
If you are concerned for someone else, read about warning signs here. For additional resources, see the Speaking of Suicide website.
Paul Larkin says
For clarificaion:- it is a common misconception that a person will be held for 3 days and only 3 days if placed on a Baker Act. Legally, a person can be held against their will for 3 days under Baker Act law. But once officially assessed, the individual in question can be released before 3 days if they no longer present with immediate risk to harm themself or others BUT if they do present with such ongoing risk, the treating facility can petition the court to hold the person involuntarily, if needed, beyond the three days allowed under the Baker Act.
Joe D says
The “72 hour hold” is designed to have a quick “level of dangerousness to self or others” determined. If after 72 hours, the treatment team determines, the client is NOT safe to be released, they will have a “commitment/commitment hearing” (not sure what it’s called in Florida, but that’s what it was called in Maryland, when I was a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Child and Family therapy ). At the hearing, an independent outside Mental Health Hearing officer, conducts an informal legal hearing, where the clinical reports, and recommendations are reviewed, testimony is taken from clinicians, the patient, and sometimes the family. Then the Hearing officer decides whether there is sufficient evidence to the danger the client presents to themselves or others, and can either RELEASE the client from Mental Health care, or hold them over for INVOLUNTARY treatment (separate from any LEGAL charges they may face). Some clients may decide to sign into treatment Voluntarily. If the client is “Certified” as a danger, there is another hearing set for (usually around 60 days)—-designed to prevent the danger of “throw away the key” type of mental hospital admissions which used to occur DECADES ago.
Each State is slightly different in the process and the time line, but the intentions are the same.
Atwp says
Was this a mental breakdown or anger? A fighting pose, racist words, and a threat. A white guy, he wasn’t shot, very interesting to me. Am sure he will be released back to the house of weapons. The world we live in.Thank God no one was killed.
Chip D says
Are you insinuating that if this unarmed person with mental issues was black that the Flagler County deputies would have shot him?
STUART Stewart says
Right? What a dope.
STUART Stewart says
“The House of Weapons”? You’re a moron. And why would he get shot? He didn’t even have a weapon.
Joe D says
Flagler County might want to consider a program similar to what existed in Baltimore in the early 2000’s. It was called the Baltimore Crisis RESPONSE Center. It was a State funded program that provided teams of Psychiatrists/Psychiatric Nurses/Clinical Social Workers, and Mental Health Workers, who would go out with the police on Mental Health Crisis calls. It would be teams of (always) 2 clinicians: Psychiatrist/Nurse, Nurse/Social Worker, Social Worker/Mental Health Worker.
Sometimes the appearance of a person NOT in a police uniform, can help “talk a person down” from the crisis without what frequently happens ( the “suspect” is shot to death or law enforcement is seriously injured). It was VERY effective (although the scenario about “ERIC”…was probably unavoidable). The additional risk of easily available guns has made these situations even more dangerous.
A relative of mine, who is a retired police officer, said the most DANGEROUS calls for a police officer’s SAFETY were Domestic Altercations and Mental Health calls.
Resident says
Good luck in finding any psychiatrist locally or surrounding counties to do this. There aren’t enough to even see people who want help.
Steven David Rounds says
First off, Eric, never got his hands on a weapon. Thank God. Eric looked for them but, although they weren’t hidden, they were hidden enough so that he didn’t find them. No weapons were loaded. Locking up the weapons would have made absolutely no difference in this case. Plus, Eric is 33 years old. He’s not a juvenile. There were no warning signs that he was about to have a mental breakdown. Certainly, in hindsight, the weapons should have been locked, or removed from the house, or never purchased. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have that foresight and we live in a world with some bad, violent people. Further, if someone breaks into the house with bad intentions, they are going to be met with force. If the weapons are locked up, there simply isn’t enough time to get to a safe and procure the weapon to protect yourself. Eric will get what he deserves in court but beating up the homeowner in this article was completely inappropriate and ignorant.
Patrice lewis says
I absolutely agree. It is a right to bear arms and there is not a law requiring a home owner to lock up weapons. It is common sense to keep them secured when there are children in the home. A 33 year old is not a child. Therefore this article was very slighted in even bringing it up. A very leftist move. The focus of the article should be lack of mental health resources. They boasted about the one program in Flagler and none of which was helpful to “eric”. While in jail he was not even given his prescribed medications and he was baker acted a second time. Wtg . This was a an eye opening for me. I always praise our sheriff’s but this fell really short and I have lost faith in our sheriff.