"Help me" he plead with the ER nurses for more than a day, then Deputies shot and killed him inside of the hospital.

It is unclear why the deputies chose to use their guns over tasers. The man was in only a hospital gown. 4 deputies with tasers and pepper spray, and 2 of them pull guns.

When a family member is a Baker Act, it's to protect them..

The last thing we expect when trying to get help for one of our family members, is to hear that they were shot to death while wearing a paper gown in the Emergency room. Especially the same one he was brought to specifically for help with his mental health.

Roughly 40 hours before the shooting, his family had Zachary Taylor Anderson, age 29 brought to the Indian River Cleveland Clinic hospital, because he was struggling with suicidal thoughts and ideations. Once at the hospital, Zachary sat in a hallway waiting for a bed at any available mental health facility. The thing is, there weren't any, not a single one and that is what began, and ended this disaster. While over 24 hours had gone by, he sat patiently waiting for an evaluation. Keep in mind, that is a literal eternity to a mentally ill person actively having an episode, and nothing had been done for him. He began to get aggravated, and was just getting vulgar and vocal about it, when an odd chain of events ended in his death.

There were 4 deputies present. Why?

The odd chain of events stemming from multiple unrelated calls to the Indian River County Sheriff's office, created a scenario where four on-duty deputies were there in the nurses station simultaneously. The Patient “Zachary” who as a Baker Act, and should not have been around any sharp objects, or even shoestrings. Yet somehow he gained control of a pair of scissors (They were just laying on the nurses desk next to him). The four deputies were only a few yards from the spot in the hallway where Zachary’s bed was. This is not how, or where a suicidal patient should be treated, but again there were no available spots at any local mental facilities. The nurses and deputies were chatting it up, when Zachary saw an opening. It is only speculative that his “intent” was actually suicide by police, more than likely he figured the cops would just tase him, and they would surely finally medicate him then. After all he was actively seeking help, and he was still being vocal about not seeing a Doctor in over 24 hours.

What happened next was all within just a few seconds.

That is when Zachary got off his bed took a few steps forward and just raised the scissors. The scissors that he should never have been able to be around, considering his mental state. When he did this, as you can see in the video below, one deputy ran, then the two who were closest to Zachary at that point pulled their handguns.

Oh, I forgot to mention.. I was there.

I remember hearing 4 shots, and then the elderly woman in the Vertical holding recliner in the area next to me asked, “were those gun shots ?” I could barely hear her, because my ears were still ringing, but I nodded yes. You see, when the shots were fired, myself and a hand full of other patients were no more than 40-50 feet away in an ER holding area with recliners. There was a half wall, with opaque plexiglass at the top between us, and the deputies firing handguns inside the hospital. There was a doorway at the end of the room, we actually saw the officer that ran go by it, as the shots were fired. He turned and headed back and a few long seconds later a nurse comes running in and locks the door, she states there is an active shooter protocol in the hospital. Myself and another gentlemen of some years who also clearly did not panic like the remainder of the room did kept our eyes fixed on the door. Meanwhile the nurse that is in the room with us, is answering the panicked questions of the elderly woman and the handful of others. Then this question…

Elderly woman: Who was shot ma'am ?

Nurse: A patient who was waiting for a bed, but it doesn't look like he will need it now.

Everyone in the room: Silence, slowly turns to look at the nurse, having heard what she just blurted out, and an awkward silence starts.

She just told us there was an active shooter protocol. We saw, the cop run by one way then the other way with his gun, we heard four shots. In our minds at the time a random person or another patient is wandering the hospital with a gun. The conversation among the other patients in the room was proof of such, and the nurse did not say it was a deputy that shot a man. So the imaginations of the people went haywire. The dialogue was crazy, I remember hearing bits thinking of my gods some of these people are bonkers. Then I hear “I bet it’s a terrorist” the elderly woman says it with certainty.

Then the nurse gets some type of cue to move us, she tells us there is a secure location just outside the door, there wasn't it was a bathroom. She stuck the whole handful of us in the bathroom. It did have a more sturdy door than the room we were just in, but that is not why they moved us. In that temporary holding area we could clearly begin to hear the police radios, right after the awkward silence. Also, we could no longer hear the man yelling about needing to see a Doctor, and saying that he had been in a hallway for more than a day waiting. The only sound in that awkward silence was the police radios, and the four deputies talking to two other nurses right on the other side of the flimsy temporary half-wall. The nurse realized a few of us were listening, and the things we were hearing were not good. So she looked out in the hallway and they had covered the man up, so she got us out of earshot.

As we sat in the bathroom like sardines in a can, they were just moving Zachary. We didn't realize that though until well after that, when the dust settles and the story came on the news. The conversation that we heard some of, between the deputies, and nurses right after it all happened. That will have to be a whole different article.

What went wrong that caused this ?

I believe what didn't go wrong would be the more simple question to answer. The first thing to point out, is the staff of the hospitals actions here, the nurses, and the doctors. They had a patient with thoughts of suicide, free and unrestrained, and quite clearly also far too close to sharp objects. Second, if what Zachary was yelling the whole time we were there was true, the staff was negligent. He kept repeating that he had not even had an initial intake, or seen a doctor but had been in the hallway for a whole day, then put in a transport just to wind back up in exactly the same place shortly after. That is way beyond being just negligent, a baker act patient, or a self check in patient with suicidal thoughts must be evaluated. To not even address, and basically ignore a patient, especially one that is screaming for help for that long is totally terroristic.

Then we have the fact that the cops (deputies) pulled their pistols, rather than tasers. There are four deputies standing right there, at least 2 of them in body armor, and they chose to use pistols. This is problematic, for far more reasons than the fact they shot a mental patient for being mental. The bullets could have missed or passed through him, and hit another patient. They could have even struck an oxygen lines running through one of the walls, and the story on the news would have been far different.

Long story short, they killed a man actively seeking help, for acting like a crazy man actively seeking help. They gave a permanent solution for a temporary problem..

They shot a mental patient, for acting like a mental patient.

This is what the neighboring county’s Sheriff had to say.

SLC Sheriff Responds to Criticism Over Fatal Hospital Shooting - WQCS https://www.wqcs.org/wqcs-news/2022-04-20/slc-sheriff-responds-to-criticism-over-fatal-hospital-shooting?_amp=true

Below is the video of the incident from a strategically selected angle. It does not show anything extremely graphic, but it is highly disturbing when you understand the full context.

To be clear, in the year since this happened the officers were cleared before a grand jury of any wrongdoing. Their reactions were in the heat of a critical moment, it's easy to criticize afterwards, but in that moment who knows what any of us would do.

The hospital however has some serious questions to answer. This mans family lost a much loved member.

Man shot, killed at Indian River County hospital identified - YouTube

Links, and Sources:

https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/crime/indian-river-county/2022/03/27/cleveland-clinic-indian-river-hospital-one-dead-deputy-involved-shooting/7184316001/

Man who tried to stab deputies shot, killed at hospital - WPTV https://www.wptv.com/news/treasure-coast/region-indian-river-county/cleveland-clinic-indian-river-hospital-shooting