CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- CBS 6 continues to investigate why Charles Byers, the man shot and killed by Chesterfield Police, was removed from Chippenham Hospital while under court-ordered mental health treatment and then released back into the public just days before the deadly shooting on July 8.
Richmond Police said they arrested Byers at Chippenham on July 6 around 6:30 p.m., and he was charged with alleged assault against a healthcare worker. However, RPD still has not released any details about the assault, nor have they answered why they would remove someone in crisis from a psychiatric facility.
At the time, Chesterfield Police and Chippenham Hospital said Byers was at the facility under a temporary detention order (TDO) issued by a Richmond magistrate. That means it was determined that Byers was a threat to himself or others and in need of mental health treatment. Under a TDO, an individual is typically required to undergo a commitment hearing, which determines if the person needs additional services, but the court has no record of a commitment hearing happening.
In response to CBS 6's repeated inquiries, RPD spokesperson Tracy Walker said in an email Thursday, "There is no further information available at this time, an investigation is underway" and that RPD's legal affairs unit was processing CBS 6's requests for information.
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Following the arrest, Byers appeared before a Richmond magistrate, who issued an arrest warrant at 7:36 p.m. That warrant was served by a Richmond police officer two minutes later at 7:38 p.m., documents showed.
According to court records, a magistrate noted the nature and circumstances of the assault as: "[Law enforcement officer] says he was working at the hospital and made contact with the accused; [Law enforcement officer] says accused has been polite and cooperative following initial contact."
On the same day Byers was served the TDO, which was issued by a Richmond magistrate, a Richmond magistrate then released Byers.
Byers was released on his own recognizance at 10:08 p.m. on July 6, which means Byers agreed to appear in court the following day. However, he never did, court records showed.
The checklist for bail determinations, signed by the magistrate, indicated Byers was not currently on probation or parole and had no criminal history in Virginia. The checklist did not mention anything about a TDO.
CBS 6 reached out to Richmond's Chief Magistrate Dennis Haskin to ask about the magistrate's decision to release Byers on his own recognizance. Haskin said he could not comment on the matter.
Alisa Padden, a spokesperson for the state Office of the Executive Secretary, the court system's administrative office which oversees the magistrate system, said she could not comment specifically on the matter but offered general insight.
"A magistrate handling a criminal process would have access to any information presented to them by the law enforcement officer or the defendant at the hearing, which could, but would not necessarily, include information about the defendant’s mental health," Padden said.
She said it's possible that the same magistrate or different magistrates could have handled the TDO, a mental health proceeding, and the assault arrest warrant, a criminal proceeding.
However, she noted those two processes are separate and not connected in any way.
When asked how a magistrate would have knowledge of an individual's TDO, Padden said, "The magistrate would only consider the information presented by the law enforcement officer and the defendant at the hearing which could include information about a temporary detention order."
The timeline remains unclear as to what happened between Byers' release back into the community the night of July 6 and his death on July 8 after he allegedly broke into peoples' homes on Wycliff Court and, according to police, refused to drop a hatchet when confronted by Chesterfield Police.
“When you have someone in a mental health crisis walking around a public street flailing a hatchet, that’s a failed system," Chesterfield Police Chief Jeffrey Katz said during an interview Thursday.
While much is still under investigation, Katz said he believed this incident speaks to a broken behavioral health system which places law enforcement in a "frustrating" position.
"The need to be responsive to people in crisis, we're never going to scale that up at the rate that we're seeing people going into crisis," Katz said.
He said, “I see the decline in the capacity of the system, and the ability to get people into positions where a practitioner is helping them immediately, or at least close to it. I just see us slipping.”
As Byers was under his TDO, he interacted with multiple agencies to include the court, the hospital, and law enforcement.
Katz is pushing for better collaboration between criminal justice and mental health.
"There needs to be improved communications centrally within agencies, but of course, the bigger you create something, the more opportunity you have for massive and catastrophic miscommunication," he said.
Katz added, “We have to figure out how can we integrate those two systems, make sure that we're doing a good job of providing crisis care for people in crisis, but also not giving license to people to go out and harm other people and say, 'Well, I was in crisis.'”
As to how Chesterfield Police would generally handle a subject committing a crime while under a TDO, Katz said there's no black and white policy and each circumstance would be handled case by case.
"Obviously, the health and well-being of the person is our number one concern, and it should be everyone's number one concern. There are times where someone's mental health crisis is going to lead them in ways that are going to actually be antithetical to their well-being," Katz said.
He continued, "It's very, very complex, and when we're providing services to people who are engaged in the human experience, and they are maybe not even in a healthy place, it becomes even more nuanced."
As for the shooting itself, Katz said he would not talk about specifics, but CBS 6 asked if he would release the body camera footage.
“I’ve never released body cam footage, and I'm not going to start. We collect body camera footage for a court of law and not for a court of public opinion, and we're going to continue with that policy," Katz said.
“How does that tie in with public transparency?” reporter Tyler Layne asked.
“Anyone that wants to come in and see the video can come in and see the video," said Katz, who also cited concerns about artificial intelligence altering the video if it were to be released publicly.
Katz said reporters could "absolutely" view the video once the investigations are complete.
He said he stands by the officers who were involved in the incident.
"I'm sad that that incident occurred, and I don't want to speak for them, but I know they are too. Nobody in this profession, contrary to popular opinion, comes to work wanting to hurt anybody. And over the years, I have seen a number of officers involved in deadly force encounters. I have watched marriages fall apart. I have watched people turn to alcohol. I have seen people become suicidal that had been involved in these incidents. It weighs on people's hearts and souls," Katz said. "And it is popular because of TV and the media to think that police engage in violence as a form of recreation, as reckless and irresponsible, and it's one of the reasons why so many people don't want to do this job anymore. Good people don't want to be told they're bad people on a continual basis."
When asked if police would've had any way of knowing Byers' mental health background at the time of the shooting, Katz responded, "No."
Katz said Chesterfield Police launched the Marcus Alert system, which establishes coordinated responses between police and mental health professionals for certain situations, just two weeks ago.
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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