RICHMOND, Va. -- The state agency that licenses psychiatric facilities has launched an investigation into Chippenham Hospital's Tucker Pavilion, officials confirmed, following the facility's release of Charles Byers before his fatal interaction with police.
Virginia's Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) will be reviewing the facility's compliance with state rules and regulations for licensing providers.
It was one month ago on July 8 when Byers, 34, was shot and killed by Chesterfield Police after he allegedly tried breaking into peoples' homes on Wycliff Court and did not comply with officers' orders to drop a hatchet.
“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 in an interview following the shooting. “That's an individual who's in crisis, but that is a byproduct or a manifestation of a failed system."
Two days before the shooting, on July 6, Byers was at Chippenham Hospital's Tucker Pavillion under a temporary detention order, which was issued by a Richmond magistrate after a mental health evaluation determined Byers was a danger to himself or others and needed to be involuntarily admitted.
However, Byers hadn't yet made it into a psychiatric bed before he was arrested and removed from the facility by a Richmond police officer, at the request of hospital staff according to Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards.
Edwards, who reviewed body camera footage of the incident and the arrest, said hospital staff asked an officer, who was working in the emergency department at the time, to respond to the mental health unit at Tucker Pavilion for an uncooperative patient.
When the officer got there, he found Byers in a hallway. Hospital staff, security, and the RPD officer then negotiated with Byers for about twenty minutes, trying to get him to cooperate.
During the course of those negotiations, Edwards said Byers allegedly kicked a nurse.
No injuries were reported, according to a police incident report.
"Staff at the hospital informed our officer that they wish to press charges, and they were going to discharge him from their hospital," Edwards said.
Edwards said the arresting officer was not made aware that Byers was under a TDO at the time, but had he known, the officer possibly wouldn't have arrested Byers. Instead, Edwards said the officer may have left Byers in the facility until the crisis was over or taken him to a state-run facility.
“I think that certainly, with more information, it may have played out differently," Edwards said.
Byers was then taken to the city jail and appeared before a Richmond magistrate on an assault charge. The magistrate released Byers back into the public, on his own recognizance, less than 48 hours before he died.
According to a DBHDS spokesperson, the agency's investigation falls under Chapter 4 of Title 37.2 of the Virginia Code, which pertains to the protections of patients who receive services at licensed facilities.
Under the referenced chapter, the state code assures patients legal rights and care consistent with basic human dignity.
"Such investigations review compliance with the Rules and Regulations for Licensing Providers by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services," said DBHDS spokesperson Lauren Cunningham in an email to CBS 6.
DBHDS withheld additional information, citing exemptions under the Freedom of Information that pertain to ongoing investigations and health records.
According to the state code, the agency's Commissioner Nelson Smith, who oversaw Tucker Pavilion before leading DBHDS, has authority to suspend or revoke a facility's license upon findings of violations of regulations or practices that are detrimental to the welfare of a patient.
The Commissioner also has authority to place providers on probation, mandate training, and assess civil penalties.
CBS 6 reached out to HCA Healthcare, Tucker Pavilion's operator, for a response and did not hear back.
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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