Federal health experts estimate that from 2010 to 2020, over 12,000 people 65 and older ended up in emergency rooms for injuries caused by police or private security. Some people with dementia — like 75-year-old Amelia Baca in New Mexico — have been killed when they were unable to understand or follow police instructions. Ralph Ennis, a 77-year-old with dementia, was stopped for erratic driving in Virginia; he ended up hospitalized with a massive brain bleed after deputies, who claimed he wasn’t following orders, slammed his head on his truck and the pavement.
A Front Royal police officer who watched Ennis’ arrest was shaken by what he’d just seen. “That was fucking unjust and fucking un-fucking-called for,” he’s heard saying in his body camera video. “Jesus Christ.”
Although many officers receive some training on dealing with people in mental health crisis, they may not be adequately trained on interacting with people with brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. This gap can have dangerous consequences as social resources for the elderly dwindle. “It’s been a nightmare,” Armando Navejas’ daughter says. “If I was there, I could have spoken for him, or been there for my mom… This did not have to happen.” |
