HHS: Regional center incident Thursday an anomaly

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BY CORY MATTESON AND NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star

Two Sarpy County Sheriff's deputies left a 19-year-old man, deemed incompetent to stand trial, at the Lincoln Regional Center on Thursday, handcuffed to a chair.

Center officials told the deputies at noon there was no room for him at the facility.

Three hours later, following a judge's orders, the deputies left the man at the center, handcuffed to a chair in the lobby.

The series of events that unfolded Thursday is anomalistic, said Scot Adams, director of the Nebraska Health and Human Services Department's Division of Behavioral Health.

The frustration that brought them about is not, several officials said Thursday.

"It brings to the (forefront) the plight of the individual and the plight of the system," Sarpy County Attorney L. Kenneth Polikov said Thursday evening.

There is a waiting list at the regional center for prisoners and other mentally ill people who need to be in the state’s care.

The backlog has left officials in holding patterns when dealing with people who are in serious need of help. On Thursday, a court order Adams called “out of protocol” was used to bypass the wait.

Deputies were ordered by Sarpy County Judge Robert Wester "that the defendant is hereby forthwith committed to Lincoln Regional Center," Sarpy County Lt. Steve Grabowski said, reading part of the court order over the phone.

Grabowski said the judge told him that his deputies were to leave the man at the regional center even if the center refused to admit him. If the deputies didn't, Grabowski said Wester would send the lieutenant to jail.

So when the regional center refused to admit the man, deputies left him there.

"We were pretty shocked at the unfortunate behavior that left a man handcuffed to a chair in a lobby," Adams said. "Most of the time, everybody does their best to work together and make this work."

Dean Settle, director of Lancaster County's Community Mental Health Center, which oversees  Lancaster County's Crisis Center, said in general the system has had a "major disruption."

The Crisis Center is full, and he said he has three women who are already committed and waiting for inpatient service at the regional center.

He said he also has five people waiting for final rulings on their competence from the state Mental Health Board, because the board members know there is no room at LRC. 

Grabowski said he and other law enforcement agencies are frustrated nearly every time they pick up somebody who needs to be placed in emergency protective custody — people who are a danger to themselves or others and who are supposed to receive mental care immediately.

"Our average time for an EPC is six hours," Grabowski said. "That takes one of my cruisers off the street for six hours."

That's a long time not only for the county to be down one patrol vehicle, but also for people who desperately need mental health, he said.

"Just trying to find a bed for someone is hard to do," he said. 

In Lincoln, Police Chief Tom Casady said officers used to drive around for hours with a mentally ill person in the back of the cruiser, waiting for a bed to open at a local hospital or the Lincoln Crisis Center.

Now he said he has told his officers not to put anyone in a cruiser unless placement for that person is guaranteed.

As for EPCs, Adams said the 64-bed Lasting Hope Recovery Center in Omaha, which opened last month, will help ease the burden of law enforcement officers when people with mental health problems are placed in their care.

He said the center is expected to be running at full capacity by the end of June.

But the man who was handcuffed to a chair Thursday was not classified as an EPC. He had been jailed at the Lincoln Correctional Center.

In April, York County officials told the Associated Press that they were frustrated that a man who had been committed to LRC two months earlier was still in their jail.

At the time, the backlog of people awaiting treatment was nine or 10 people, Adams told the AP. That was because the center was revamping security to remain nationally accredited.

Typically, Adams said, up to four people are on the waiting list to receive care at LRC, and they are  on the list for about four to six weeks. They all have court orders to receive care.

That was the case Thursday, when the deputies brought in the man they left handcuffed to a chair.

Adams said HHS attempted to contact Wester Thursday, but could not.

The Journal Star could not reach him Thursday night.

Polikov said he believed the judge was trying to make a point, that local officials are frustrated when somebody in their care would best benefit from being attended to by the state.

"I think it got somebody's attention," he said.

He said officials at all levels are trying to do what's best for the individual, and that he is surprised that more funding, and more care, isn't available for people with mental health problems, even though it is a concern that affects everybody in the state.

"I suspect there will be a lot of conversation, and I predict there will be progress," Polikov said.

"We will continue to evaluate and move forward the best we can," Adams said.

As for the man who was left at LRC, the deputies left the key to the handcuffs. Adams said he could not comment on the man's admission status.

"We are caring for this individual, giving him respect, nourishment," he said.

Reach Cory Matteson at 473-2655 or cmatteson@journalstar.com.