Erica's Story

Erica was in crisis last week and volunteered to go to the hospital to have her condition evaluated and treated. While awaiting the ambulance, Erica (now 20 and a rape victim at age 12) went to her car to have a quick smoke while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

Her car is her safe space and on several occasions, she has been spoken to by police in our driveway. They never had a problem with this before, so Erica had very reasonable expectations that this would be OK.

 

Erica agreed to go to the hospital and stated her intention to go to her car for a smoke and the social worker did not express a concern with this. She was the only one who was called to assess Erica. However, the police officer who was there strictly to observe decided to insert himself into a situation that was under control, in a capacity he was not there for, and that he could not possibly have the mental health education and experience to understand.

 

Erica was calm and respectful during her crisis interview, was not being sent to the hospital against her will, and had agreed to go to the hospital voluntarily. She was not detained or arrested. There was no reasonable, articulable suspicion that Erica had committed or was about to commit a crime. Yet when Erica sat in her car and started it up to charge her vape (leaving the door open), the police officer violated Erica’s constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure, and in violation of her due process rights, and lunged across her lap in a sudden and unwarranted fashion.

 

This sudden, unreasonable, unlawful, and surprising action by the police officer unquestionably triggered a sudden, intense, and uncontrollable PTSD reaction. In a purely instinctual reaction, Erica threw her vape pod at the officer in an attempt to defend herself from him. When he persisted, she put her car into gear, backed out of the driveway, and drove away. Unfortunately, her door knocked the intruding and one other officer down in the process. Her actions were not formed by criminal intent, but out of a desperate adrenaline rush fueled by the primal need for self-preservation.

 

It is important to note that Erica was raped in the front seat of a truck by an adult male she trusted when she was only 12. He was released on just a $50,000 bond which the judge continued at his arraignment. He groomed her for months with alcohol, drugs, candy, cigarettes, and soda. None of this was disputed, yet due to the rapist’s claimed mental issues, he was deemed “incompetent and not restorable”. He never spent one single day in jail! In fact, he drives around town in a big truck and often tows around a woodchipper. He blows his horn at Erica, revs his engine, and drives aggressively whenever he runs across her to this day. She has not received justice, nor relief from her ordeal in all these years. She lives in a heightened state of emotional turmoil every day, in fear of encountering him again.

 

All of these events have taken place in the same town and the police are keenly aware of Erica’s history. I have been told to leave town by one officer. Another told me that he cringes whenever he hears a dispatch to our address. The police have become too familiar with us over the years, and have become too comfortable in dealing with us abusively. And now Erica has become a victim of her past and is confined in prison rather than the mental health care she so desperately needed and volunteered for before that opportunity was stolen away. She must be so confused and scared.

 

Erica was charged with two counts of interfering, two counts of assault on police, two counts of reckless endangerment, and one count of breach of peace. Rather than sending her for evaluation and care for her obvious mental health crisis, Erica was arrested and spent the night in police lockup, deprived of needed care, was never given a call to home, and then brought directly to court in the morning. A very excessive bond was set of $350,000 and she was sent directly to prison and has not been allowed to contact anyone yet nor will the prison give us any updates on her. We are so scared and concerned for her well-being.

 

Just yesterday, on May 26, a man in our town (same police, etc) was arrested for stabbing a man multiple times. He had to be restrained by several people to prevent him from killing his victim. His pre-court bond? Just $100,000. Compared to Erica’s very excessive $350,000 pre- and post-court bonds. So Erica received a bond of 350% compared to the bond imposed upon a person acting homicidically in the same town only 5 days afterward. Obviously, there is a significant prejudice at play against Erica. This violates her constitutional protection from excessive bail.

 

We are not a family of wealth and status in the community. This bail is extremely excessive in that regard alone. In court, the person assigned to Erica argued for $100,000 bail and stated that we would not even be able to post that. They argued further, to no avail, that a higher bond would result in disqualifying her from programs and services that could help her while incarcerated. But still, the court persisted with the $350,000 bail.

 

I am a veteran and on medicaid and social security disability. I have very limited means and barely scrape by in my daily life. This is why we are starting this GoFundMe. With much sadness and great humility. The bond alone is $21,000! Not to mention the legal fees to follow and I want to pursue constitutional and human rights violation remedies on my daughter’s behalf.

 

 

Predictably, the police report was written quite creatively, to justify their actions and to criminalize hers. They claim she was “fleeing” (with her car door open??!) the scene, when in reality she had already completed the evaluation and was only going to her car for a smoke before the ambulance arrived. She had stated this out loud and had no reason to believe this would be a problem. Even beyond this, the police were only there to observe and ensure the safety of the social worker, who was never in any harm.

 

Erica did not meet the criteria for being taken to the hospital against her will. She was asked to voluntarily do so, and she agreed. She was calm and there was no reason to stop her from having a smoke in her car. She could have just declined to go to the hospital and told them all to leave at that point. Or be allowed to leave the premises without conflict or confrontation. Once she was determined not to meet the criteria of being taken to the hospital against her will, no one had the right to detain her or her movement. But the police did. Suddenly and unexpectedly.

 

The officer further justified his actions by claiming he was fearful, because Erica was in a mental health crisis, and could have access to a weapon in her car. Wow!! This is a ridiculous notion, and probably the best excuse they could come up with after the fact. I’m sure the mental health community will not like that this officer is blaming mental health as a probable cause to believe someone may have a weapon!! It should be noted that Erica has never had access to weapons and has never been accused of having any. In fact, in order to initiate the mobile crisis visit they specifically asked if Erica had any access to weapons. Every time. And as usual, I told them NO she does not!

 

Bodycam footage was almost immediately released, and Erica’s picture and video are currently circulating and making her look very bad. This is a sad travesty when all she needed was compassion, empathy, and care.

 

Conveniently, the bodycam footage that was released begins with Erica walking to her car. Viewers are deprived of context that immediately preceded, including the fact that Erica was calm, respectful, cooperative, and that she stated she was only going to her car to smoke until the ambulance arrived. Combine this with the creative writing by the police in their report, and Erica is made to look absolutely terrible. And now the media is spreading the story as if it is fact without any concern for Erica’s remaining reputation.

 

 

 

Police also have claimed they were there on a well-person check. Nothing could be further from the truth. A welfare check, also known as a wellness check, is when police stop by a person’s home to make sure they are okay. Requests for welfare checks are made by friends, family, and neighbors, typically after someone unexpectedly stops answering their phone or getting in touch with others. To be clear, the police presence was unwanted and undesired. This was a Mobile Crisis Intervention. I called CHR, not the police! Emergency mobile psychiatric services (EMPS) deliver a range of crisis response and crisis stabilization services to children, youth, their families and caregivers including children residing in relative, adoptive and foster care homes. BIG DIFFERENCE!

On the early evening of May 21, 2024, the EMPS (Mobile Crisis) service of CHR (Community Health Resources) was requested by Erica’s family to assess her state of mind and physical safety. The hope was they would send her to the hospital for evaluation and care. But, as Erica has had a substantive history of PTSD and difficulty managing her condition, police were also invited by CHR to observe and ensure the safety of the attending social worker. This was not requested nor desired by the family. The duty of the police was simply to observe. Everyone involved was aware of Erica and her history and her mental health challenges. Nothing that day should have come as a surprise to anyone.

 

Unfortunately, out of concern for Erica’s current safety needs, I had no choice but to allow police to be on the scene, since CHR chose to involve them. In the past, I have turned Mobile Crisis away when they decided to bring the police along, as the police trigger Erica’s PTSD, and they are a huge cause of this complex condition as well. I wish I could have sent everyone away when CHR arrived with the police in tow yet again. Unfortunately, because Erica’s crisis on that day involved potentially hurting herself, I had no choice but to allow them, because the only way to get mental health evaluation/hospitalization against an adult’s will (and without calling the police) is to involve Emergency mobile psychiatric services (EMPS) aka Mobile Crisis. Which is what I did. Specifically to get her help without involving the police. Hopefully, now you are understanding why.

 

When Erica was just 13 years old, her friend’s family was concerned for her safety one evening in February 2017, and they contacted police, who were dispatched to our home in order to conduct a wellness check. Multiple male police officers arrived and, despite knowing she was raped just 6 months prior, physically confronted and removed her from her bedroom and smashed holes in the hallway wall with her body in the process. In one picture from that date, I count at least 5 officers on scene surrounding her on the steps awaiting an ambulance. Five or 6 grown men to wellness check and irreparably harm and lose the trust of an innocent, hurting little girl!!

 

Ten months later, when Erica had just recently turned 14, I called the ambulance to have Erica evaluated for a PTSD episode in which she feared the rapist was coming to get her and was shaking violently. Unfortunately, the police arrived and rather than just getting Erica help, escalated matters to a point that they threw Erica through the front glass door! And then three grown policemen kneeled on her back in the front yard until they finally let the ambulance take her for care.

 

These two incidents were the start of her fear and our aversion and distrust of our local police. There have been many more instances throughout the years. Add the rape into the mix, and is it any wonder that Erica had a PTSD reaction when a male police officer suddenly and unexpectedly jumped across her lap in the front seat of a car?

 

I have more often than not avoided summoning help when Erica has needed assistance because I am so afraid of how the police will act or what they may provoke with their need to control and intimidate. In my experience with our local police, they have far too often been tyrannical bullies.

 

Erica is a sweet and caring young lady. She should have the opportunity to recover from her past and move onward to live a happy life. Erica tells me she wants to be happy and have a long life. She even hopes to have kids someday. Erica loves her car. It is her safe place where she goes to listen to music, even if she has the house all to herself. She loves to go on long rides to escape her demons. She told me the reason she loves her car so much is because it has a full front-to-back moonroof. She reclines her seat and looks at the night sky. She is awed by how vast the universe is. She loves to sit by the river and relax and listen to the water. She has been trying to learn meditation, and even recently attended a seminar on the topic. She has been studying metaphysical subjects including the healing energy of rocks and crystals, etc. Erica is more of a gentle hippy than anything else. She is just very misunderstood and in a lot of complex emotional pain. Still, she loves animals and insects most of all. She shows them boundless love.

 

But she has learned to distrust humans. I hope this will not become another impetus for more pain and distrust, but it is probably inevitable. A person can only be so strong. She has experienced being raped at 12 and being brutalized by the police starting at age 13. The school sent her out of district to clinical day schools for kids who didn’t fit in at the public schools. Unfortunately, there wasn’t an alternative solution for kids suffering “just” from trauma.

 

Erica has never been accepted by her peers and was bullied mercilessly in the schools we were forced to have her attend. The community kids never gave her the chance to fit in. She’s never been to a birthday party or a sleepover with any of the kids in our town.

 

Erica thought she had befriended a neighborhood kid literally on the other side of the fence in our backyard. She was so happy and excited! She kept looking over the fence for days, hoping to see her new friend again. Finally, one day Erica came inside crying. She said the girl’s mother saw her playing with Erica and would not allow them to play together again. Because, as the mother told her daughter, Erica was a “bad kid” going to schools for “crazy people”. Pathetic, but true. And it hurt Erica deeply just when she was feeling hopeful.

 

This has all led Erica to this point. I now regret never taking action against the police in the past. Honestly, I never even thought of it. I was raised to respect the police and believe they are honorable. Now I am not so sure that I still feel that way. The blinders have been torn off. I feel like I failed to protect my daughter. It’s not a good feeling. Maybe the police would not have become so comfortable with abusing us, had I taken action. I wish I could go back in time and do what I should have done then. But I can’t. So I am trying to do it now.

 

PLEASE help so we can get Erica out of prison and into a caring and competent hospital/provider to help her with her mental health struggles before any more damage is done! As is, she has been incarcerated for several days with an excessive bail and her next court date is not until July. She still has had NO contact with home. She will be terribly scared and confused. Deprived of the help she needed and volunteered for. Put in an atmosphere where she will not be able to fit in or understand and comprehend the need to be quiet and just blend in. Something must be done immediately to remove Erica from her current situation. She is in imminent danger of both physical and further mental harm. All because of police overreach and trampling on her constitutional and human rights. And to make matters even worse, the police created a false narrative to justify their actions and to criminalize hers.