SOUTH JORDAN, Utah — A University of Utah Health South Jordan Health Center security officer is in critical condition after being dragged by a vehicle stolen by an escaped patient.
According to his family, 34-year-old Devin Myers started experiencing symptoms of psychosis on March 30, Fox 13 reports. A crisis team went to his home and his family brought him to a hospital. His brother, Drake, said Devin was given a pink slip by the crisis team specifying he should be held but he was allowed to go home.
The following day, Myers’ family checked him into the U of U Health facility for a mental health evaluation. Documents said he was “physically resisting” family members and staff.
“At one point he tried to get up and I stopped him from leaving, calmed him down, and one nurse came to the door,” Myers’ mother, Mary, described. “When I stepped outside of the room, that’s when he got up and started running.”
An affidavit for probable cause said Myers was seen running out of the emergency department into an adjacent roadway, causing vehicles to stop as the security officer attempted to return him to the hospital, according to MSN. Myers then crossed the street to a nearby 7-Eleven gas station where he found a truck that was left running with one adult passenger in the back seat.
Myers reportedly began opening the driver’s side door “while physically resisting the hospital security officer and a family member” of the truck’s owner. The officer was holding on to the car through an open door on the driver’s side when Myers started to drive westbound into an eastbound lane on Daybreak Parkway.
“As the vehicle continued westbound in the wrong direction of travel, the security guard was thrown from the vehicle onto the roadway and ended up underneath the vehicle where he was possibly run over,” arrest documents said.
After the officer fell off the truck, a passenger in the rear seat climbed into the front and was able to hit the brakes as the truck went into an intersection and collided with a northbound vehicle.
The affidavit said the officer suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung. He was transported to a hospital by helicopter and was put on a breathing tube and a chest tube in the ICU.
Myers was arrested and charged with aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury, failure to remain at an accident involving serious injury, and reckless driving.
Patient’s Family Praises U of U Health Security Officer, Calls for More Mental Health Resources
Myers’ family told Fox 13 that the hospital system failed him, calling for more mental health awareness and resources in hospitals.
“We kept pushing for him to be sedated or be admitted to the mental hospital and there just didn’t seem to be a rush to do any of that he had even pulled off all of his monitors and they didn’t come in and help us with that. I feel like they didn’t do anything to protect Devin he was definitely in a really bad state, and I feel like there was more that should’ve been done,” his mother said. “We didn’t know what to do either so if they could have a crisis team available, we feel like that would be a great thing.”
The family also praised the hospital security officer’s actions.
“Thank God for the security guard doing his thing,” his brother said. “Going above and beyond to try and save not just Devin but everyone else. It could’ve been way worse.”
