ZEPHYRHILLS, Fla. — Florida’s Baker Act allows people who have mental illness and pose a substantial threat to themselves or others to be involuntarily committed for up to 72 hours.
In 2019, Florida law was changed to exclude dementia from being classified as a mental illness.
But a Pasco County man diagnosed with dementia ended up in a mental hospital for days under the Baker Act, based on a frustrated statement overheard and misquoted by a police officer.
“We’re gonna go to my car. You're not under arrest. Come on,” a Zephyrhills Police patrol officer tells Harold Styer in body camera footage obtained by the I-Team.
“I don’t want to be in the car,” Harold protests.
“You don’t have a choice. Ok? We're gonna walk,” she tells him.
The footage came from an incident on Oct. 31, 2023, when Styer was taken into custody after he got lost and drove around Hillsborough and Pasco Counties for several hours.
Styer, who had been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, was not charged with any crime, but he was about to lose his freedom.
“You're not under arrest, but I have to place cuffs on you,” the officer tells him while walking him to her patrol vehicle.
Styer’s wife, Jo Ann, and son-in-law, who reported him missing, were on the way to pick him up.
“I thought I was in jail”
But instead of going home, Harold was taken to North Tampa Behavioral Health under Florida’s Baker Act.
Styer spent four days locked inside the facility, including his 50th wedding anniversary.
“I thought I was in jail,” Harold told the I-Team. “I couldn’t leave.”
According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, 170,000 involuntary Baker Act exams were performed in Florida in fiscal year 2021-22, the last year for which statistics are available.
Fifty-three percent were initiated by law enforcement.
The officer who recommended Harold's commitment never met him.
“The majority of people who are being placed under the Baker Act are by law enforcement or non-psychiatric physicians, which is alarming,” said Tampa Attorney Paul Figueroa, who specializes in representing clients in Baker Act cases.
He says officers are often not properly trained.
“We have the Baker Act to help folks that are in mental crisis,” Figueroa said.
According to the intake form used for Harold, a person must have a mental illness that does not include “conditions manifested only by dementia.”
There also has to be a “substantial likelihood” of serious bodily harm to himself or others.
Frustrated statement leads to loss of freedom
“Making a statement is not a reason even to enact the Baker Act,” said Jo Ann Styer.
But that’s what happened.
The incident that led to Harold's Baker Act detention began after he drove his wife, Jo Ann, to a medical clinic in Tampa.
“He was supposed to be in the waiting room to take me home,” Jo Ann said. “He wasn’t there. He wouldn’t answer his phone.”
Jo Ann called the police.
“I explained that he had mild, early onset dementia, and he gets confused once in a while,” Jo Ann said.
While Tampa Police officers were on the scene, Jo Ann reached Harold on the phone.
He was lost, confused, and frustrated.
“I've had it. You're lucky I'm just not committing suicide. How’s that?” Harold can be overheard saying on the phone.
Body camera footage documented how the officer conveyed what Jo Ann told her.
“She's like he’s made comments like this several times in the last year or two, and he never does anything. It's more he gets angry, and he’s disoriented because he’s got beginning stages of dementia,” the officer said to another law enforcement officer on the phone.
The officer wrote in her report, “The subject was entered as endangered due to his cognitive impairment and the statement he made on the phone that he would kill himself in my presence.”
Harold was later located at the Wawa gas station in Zephyrhills, about 35 miles away.
Officers asked Harold three times if he planned to harm himself, but he denied it every time.
The lead officer calls a supervisor.
“He’s not saying he’s suicidal, but he definitely doesn’t know where he’s at,” she said.
A sergeant also evaluates him, and after observing Harold for 10 minutes, he doubts Harold poses a risk.
“He’s not really criteria like that,” the Sergeant said.
Phone call convinces police to detain Harold
Then the Zephyrhills officer gets a call from the Tampa officer... the one who never met Harold.
“So you heard him on the phone state he was going to kill himself?” she can be heard saying on the body camera footage.
She tells the Tampa officer Harold’s wife is on the way to pick him up.
“So we were just gonna release him to her,” she said.
But the Tampa officer recommends a Baker Act.
“So he was upset, and all he said was ‘I’ll just kill myself’ because he had no clue where he was at,” the Zephyrhills officer tells her Sergeant.
“We have a law enforcement officer that heard... yeah, ok. I'm good with that,” the Sergeant responded.
The officer then transported Harold to North Tampa Behavioral Health.
“It’s being abused,” Jo Ann, a retired nurse, said of the Baker Act.
We contacted Tampa and Zephyrhills police departments.
Zephyrhills Police Department’s Statement
The primary concern for every Zephyrhills Police Officer is the safety of our citizens and those visiting our city. ZPD Officers train in crisis intervention, which includes mental illness training.
ZPD policy defines mental illness in SOP #08.19 I.J: Mental Illness: An impairment of the mental or emotional processes that exercise conscious control of one’s actions or of the ability to perceive or understand reality, which impairment substantially interferes with the person’s ability to meet the ordinary demands of living. For the purposes of this policy, the term does not include a developmental disability as defined in chapter 393, intoxication, or conditions manifested only by dementia, traumatic brain injury, antisocial behavior, or substance abuse. A person may be eligible under the Baker Act even with one of these excluded conditions if they also appear to have a co-occurring mental illness.
ZPD Officers recognized that the individual required support and care. Upon conversing with the TPD officer and discovering that the person had made statements about feeling suicidal, they elected to implement a Baker Act. This decision was based on a combination of factors, as the person was reported missing and endangered; seemed disconnected from reality; and, expressed thoughts of suicide during a phone call with their spouse, as witnessed by the TPD officer.
The ZPD officers took into account the statement from the TPD officer, as they would a statement from any person with knowledge or information pertaining to any incident they are investigating.
Tampa Police Statement
The primary concern for every Tampa Police Officer is the safety and well-being of our community members. TPD Officers train in Crisis Intervention, which includes mental illness.
The Tampa Police Department defines mental illness as “impairment of the mental or emotional processes that exercise conscious control of one’s actions or the ability to perceive or understand reality, which impairment substantially interferes with the person’s ability to meet the ordinary demands of living. For this part, the term does not include a developmental disability defined in chapter 393, intoxication, or conditions manifested only by dementia, traumatic brain injury, antisocial behavior, or substance abuse”. (TPD Standard Operating Procedure 317.III.B) A person may be eligible under the Baker Act even with one of these excluded conditions if they also appear to have a co-occurring mental illness.
In this specific case, the person expressed suicidal ideations that were heard by the officer. The reporting party also informed the officer that although her husband had made similar statements in the past, they were “not to this extreme”.
Based on the information that was available to the officer at that immediate time, the officer entered the subject as a Missing/Endangered person to ensure his safety and well-being. This information was shared with Zephyrhills Police Officers when they came in contact with the subject, so they would be able to make their own well-informed decision regarding protections enacted under Florida’s Baker Act.
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