'The system failed him': Family had sought mental health care for man shot at Suncoast High
RIVIERA BEACH — Just two days before an encounter with a police officer that resulted in a Riviera Beach man being shot and wounded on the campus of Suncoast High School, his family sought to get him help.
Delroy Thomas was taken to HCA JFK North Medical Center on Saturday, April 20, to be evaluated for involuntary commitment under Florida's Baker Act, his brother Calvin Nance said this week. It allows a person to be kept in the hospital for up to 72 hours if there is reason to believe the person is a danger to themselves or others.
Nance said his brother has long struggled with mental illness and that family members requested that he be taken to the hospital after a recent episode. Yet somehow, Nance said, the hospital released Thomas over the weekend without the family's knowledge. An attempt to reach the hospital for comment was not immediately successful.
"I'm trying to understand why they would have released him," he said of his brother, who remains hospitalized after the shooting and whose arrest report indicates that he was wearing what appeared to be blue scrubs as he walked toward Suncoast High's south gate. "We were under the impression he was supposed to be Baker Acted."
Nance said he believes long-term treatment for his brother would have prevented the school encounter with police.
"The system failed him in so many ways," he said. "All of this could have been prevented. It should have been prevented. … Everybody could see that he was (struggling)."
Officer-involved shooting followed confrontation in Suncoast High parking lot
Palm Beach County School District Police identified Thomas, 29, as the person who Riviera Beach police officer Nodane Cherisma shot twice during a physical encounter on Monday, April 22, in a parking lot at Suncoast High School.
Investigators said Thomas had entered the campus from a parking lot where only faculty are allowed while parents were dropping off students for the start of the school day. They say Thomas fought with Cherisma as she tried to stop him and that she fired her gun at him when he refused. Cherisma had called for help but it did not arrive before the confrontation began, according to the arrest report.
Medics took Thomas to St. Mary's Medical Center, where he remained on Thursday, April 24, according to Palm Beach County Jail records. He faces multiple charges, including battery on a law enforcement officer and trespassing on school grounds.
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The Palm Beach County Public Defender's Office is representing Thomas. As a policy, it does not comment on open cases. Thomas is scheduled to appear at a bail hearing May 1.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is handling the investigation, as it often does when a shooting involves a local law enforcement officer. It took the case at Riviera Beach's request.
It was unclear this week how long Cherisma had been on the Riviera Beach force and whether the department had placed her on administrative leave, a move most departments make in the wake of an officer-involved shooting.
Recent trespass incidents at hospitals were cries for help, family says
Court records dating to January show that Thomas this year has received trespass warnings at JFK North Medical Center and St. Mary's Medical Center, both in West Palm Beach. Staff members there told investigators that Thomas refused to leave when asked to do so.
Nance described Thomas' actions in recent days and weeks as erratic but not dangerous. He said he believed his brother's acts were a plea for help.
"They dropped the ball on this one, that’s all I know," he said "If he was held for those 72 hours like he was supposed to (this wouldn't have happened)."
Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
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This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Officer-involved shooting: Family sought care for man shot at Suncoast
