CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- The family of a man who was shot and killed by police while under an active court order for involuntary mental health treatment has sued the systems and individuals they believe were responsible for their son's death.
Charles Byers, 34, was a patient at HCA's Chippenham Hospital's Tucker Pavilion under a temporary detention order (TDO) when he was arrested by Richmond Police and removed from the facility just days before he was fatally shot by Chesterfield Police.
“I can't believe we live in a country where you can be mentally ill, you can be in the care of doctors, and you can wind up dead like this. It's just an injustice, and it needs to be righted," Byers' father Michael Byers told CBS 6 in a previous interview.
Paul Curley, the attorney for parents Michael and Peggy Byers, filed a complaint in the United States Eastern District Court Wednesday, November 22.
The $35 million lawsuit claimed HCA Healthcare's Chippenham Hospital and the City of Richmond violated Byers' federal civil rights, federal patient rights, used excessive force, unlawfully arrested him, and acted with gross negligence.
"Charlie's mom took him to HCA Chippenham, a place where she thought he would receive the care that he needed. She entrusted Charlie to their care," Curley said. "He was treated like a criminal for having a mental illness, and that's really sad."
On July 5, Peggy Byers said she took her son to Chippenham Hospital's emergency department when he was suffering from a mental health crisis. Byers was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, which his mother said caused delusions, paranoia, and anxiety.
Once there, a progress note from the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority (RBHA) showed that a Richmond Police officer called RBHA to say he had placed Byers under an emergency custody order (ECO), because he was reportedly wandering around the hospital and appeared confused.
An RBHA professional evaluated Byers and recommended he be placed under a TDO.
In the early hours of July 6, a Richmond magistrate issued the TDO and assigned Chesterfield Police to serve it on Byers. Byers' TDO stated his mental illness could cause him to put himself or others in danger and that he was unwilling or incapable of taking care of himself. When a TDO is issued, a patient is required to remain at a psychiatric facility for up to 72 hours.
A bed was secured for Byers at Chippenham's Tucker Pavilion in the afternoon hours of July 6, and that's where Peggy and Michael Byers believed their son would remain -- until they got a knock on their door from Chesterfield police officers less than 48 hours later.
“And [they] told us there had been an altercation with Charlie, and he had been shot and killed by Chesterfield County Police. And I said, ‘Well, that's not possible because he's at Tucker. He's currently being treated for mental illness,'" Peggy Byers recalled.
What his parents didn't know was that, according to court documents, Byers had been arrested by Richmond Police just hours after he was placed at Tucker Pavilion, removed from the hospital, and released by a Richmond magistrate back into the public.
The complaint detailed what allegedly happened at the hospital, according to body camera footage reviewed by Curley.
It stated that hospital staff were trying to move Byers from the third floor of Tucker Pavilion to the second floor using an elevator. However, Byers did not cooperate while in a delusional state.
So, a nurse called in an on-site RPD officer for assistance. The complaint alleged that the officer never investigated why Byers was being moved, why he was hospitalized, or whether he had a mental illness.
During his interaction with nurses and the officer, Byers was heard accusing the officer of being a fake officer with a "fake hat and fake uniform," which the complaint said were indications of "obvious paranoia and delusions."
The complaint stated Byers was seated in a chair with his hands clasped and was "a threat to no one," as up to a dozen HCA employees, security guards, and the RPD officer stood around him.
At one point, the RPD officer attempted to handcuff Byers and force him into the elevator, despite the complaint stating that Byers had committed no crime, but Byers resisted.
When that effort was unsuccessful, the officer then pointed a taser at Byers, the complaint stated.
"Do you want to go to jail, or do you want to go to the second floor?" the RPD officer then asked Byers, according to the complaint.
Before Byers could respond, a nurse said, according to the lawsuit, "At this point, we just want you to take him away."
"Was it you who he kicked?" the officer then asked the nurse, the complaint said.
"Yes," the nurse allegedly responded.
The lawsuit alleged that the body camera video did not show Byers kicking a nurse or anyone else and claimed the officer and nurse "fabricated" an assault charge so that they could remove him from the hospital. If anything, Byers may have accidentally struck someone with his leg while the officer and nurse attempted to restrain him, the complaint stated.
According to the lawsuit, the officer then asked the nurse to provide discharge papers. However, the complaint highlighted that patients under a TDO can only be discharged prior to a commitment hearing if a facility director determines that the patient no longer meets the criteria for a TDO.
On Byers' TDO, there is no signature or date filled out under the section that states, "respondent discharged from institution." There is no record of Byers ever having a commitment hearing.
"The RPD and HCA Chippenham clearly violated the many federal statutes designed to protect mentally ill patients," Curley told CBS 6. “The RPD’s ignorance of these federal regulations and federal statutes allowed HCA Chippenham, who should have known, to use the RPD officers to violate patient's rights.”
Curley pointed to what he called a larger systemic issue in that HCA-Chippenham allegedly uses RPD officers as security and to "manage psychiatric patients," while expressly excluding law enforcement officers from its written policies related to the use of force and use of restraints.
Curley also claimed that the officer who arrested Byers received no specialized training on the rights of patients in a medical setting.
When the arresting officer was later asked by a transporting officer why Byers was at the hospital in the first place, the arresting officer said he didn't know.
"Why was he here, wasn't he on the third floor -- the most secure?" the transporting officer asked the arresting officer, according to the complaint.
"I have no idea," the arresting officer responded, the complaint stated.
When Byers appeared before a Richmond magistrate, the arresting officer did not tell the magistrate that Byers was under a TDO or that he had just been hospitalized for mental illness.
A magistrate released Byers from the city jail back into the public on his own recognizance in the nighttime hours of July 6.
"It's just failure upon failure upon failure," Peggy Byers said. “I used to trust that the hospital would take care of my son, that it was someplace where he could go and be safe and get better. But that's not the case. I don't ever believe that anymore."
Between the night of July 6 and the morning of July 8, the complaint stated that Byers managed to walk 14 miles back to his neighborhood in Chesterfield County.
Police were called to Wycliff Court on July 8 when neighbors reported Byers attempting to break into homes, less than a mile away from his house. The complaint stated that at one point, Byers told a neighbor that he thought his parents lived at the home he was trying to get into.
When Chesterfield officers arrived and confronted Byers, police said he had a hatchet and refused to comply with orders to drop it.
An officer then shot Byers six times, killing him, according to Byers' parents.
His TDO was still in effect when he died.
"So he died in the street, and that breaks my heart," Peggy Byers said.
“We’ll always suffer. He should be here with us right now living his life and we shouldn’t be having to deal with this. We just hope the outcome of this will be some type of meaningful change," Michael Byers said.
CBS 6 reached out to HCA Healthcare and the City of Richmond for a response to the allegations in the lawsuit.
"We have not seen the complaint that has been filed; therefore, we are not in a position to comment," said Pryor Green, a spokesperson for HCA.
CBS 6 has not yet heard back from the City of Richmond.
The Office of Chesterfield Commonwealth's Attorney Stacey Davenport has still not yet made a decision on whether to prosecute the officer who shot Byers, saying the police investigation is still active.
"We have not received all materials pertaining to this matter. We are unable to make any further comments at this time as this is still an ongoing investigation," a spokesperson said in an email.
Since the investigation remains ongoing, the family's attorney has been unable to review any records related to the shooting including body camera footage, 911 calls, and incident reports.
Depend on CBS 6 News and WTVR.com for in-depth coverage of this important local story. Anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
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