Brandon Woodruff Detroit black employee files suit against employer after active shooter drill led to him being accosted by responding cops who had not been made aware of drill as psych worker struggles with mental issues and lasting trauma in the aftermath along with patients who have also filed a class action suit against Hawthorn Center.
‘I had an uneasy feeling that maybe they would think this was real.’ A black employee at a Detroit psychiatric hospital for children is suing after he was asked to play a gunman for an active shooter drill which ended with him being held at gunpoint by responding cops after his bosses failed to share their plans with authorities.
Brandon Woodruff, 32, had been working at Hawthorn Center or five months when his supervisor asked him to participate in the drill four days before Christmas 2022.
But neither the police nor patients or their families were informed of the plan, and many staff were also unaware of what was going to happen.
Struggling with lasting trauma
When Woodruff – a dad of one – appeared with a fake rifle, patients panicked and called 911, prompting 50 cops in tactical gear to race to the scene and arrest Woodruff.
According to the lawsuit, Woodruff is still dealing with anxiety, fear, depression, and suicidal ideation. He has been unable to obtain treatment and has had to return to work. He experiences panic and anxiety attacks from having to return to the place where the traumatic even happened, the lawsuit says.
‘Although the terror, panic and mortification of those trapped inside Hawthorn was real, there were no intruders, there were no AR-15s and there were no ‘shots fired’,’ the suit states according to Click on Detroit.
Continued the lawsuit: ‘Rather, the State of Michigan created the terror and panic at Hawthorn Center as an ill-conceived ‘safety’ drill.
‘Even the scores of law enforcement who responded to the frantic 911 calls from those trapped inside the building thought there were intruders with military style weapons; they too were preparing to risk their lives to save the children and the adults who were trying to protect them.’
Patients were unaware of drill as they feared for their lives
Woodruff’s suit was filed a month after families and staff filed their own class-action suits, seeking damages.
A physical description of Woodruff, a black man was circulated when the alert was issued and an unarmed Woodruff was told to walk through the corridors of the hospital, noting down how people reacted.
Woodruff said he was uneasy at the idea, but complied.
Yet when he went in the building he was deeply upset by the terror he saw.
Woodruff did not know that the people in the building had not been warned of the drill, according to the lawsuit.
He told The Detroit Free Press he was one woman sprinting ‘like she ran for her dear life.’
Woodruff added: ‘It was one particular room that drew me off guard, one of the living areas.
‘Are the police here?!!’
‘It was the way it was barricaded’ with mattresses and chairs, said Woodruff.
‘I had an uneasy feeling, like maybe these kids think this is real. I’m gonna like leave them alone in this area. They probably a little scared and not know what’s going on. So, I just left that area and just continued.’
Those inside the building 911, and sent what they feared were final texts to loved ones.
One woman whispered during her 911 call, asking a dispatcher, ‘Are the police here?’
When the dispatcher said officers were checking things out, the caller said, ‘Please, please, please, help me.’
The dispatcher told her to stay calm and that he was there with her.
On receiving the 911 calls about an active shooter, officers were dispatched: 22 heavily-armed police rushed to the center, from Northville and Livonia townships.
Michigan State Police also rushed there.
When they arrived, officers quickly grabbed their tactical weapons and heavy gear.
An employee at a psychiatric hospital in Northville was handcuffed and detained after playing the role of an active shooter during a drill. No one at the hospital, outside of a few supervisors, knew it was a drill. From @challreporter: https://t.co/ccubI15yse
— Arpan Lobo (@ArpanLobo) May 17, 2023
‘Mr Woodruff was scared for his life.’
In front of the building, two people – one of them being Woodruff – told police it was just a drill.
But they were then told to lie on the ground until police confirmed their story.
Woodruff, face down, used his smartwatch to call his wife, who recorded what she heard.
According to the lawsuit, Woodruff feared for his life and wanted to make sure that his wife heard the last moments of his life.
Woodruff’s attorneys say he ‘heard the safeties come off the police officers’ weapons.’
They said: ‘Mr Woodruff was scared for his life.’
He had not been told the police were unaware it was a drill.
‘Woodruff did his best to comply with the anxious, sometimes conflicting orders from the police officers, getting down on the ground, then moving slowly towards them with his hands raised, and finally lifting his shirt and turning around several times to show that he was not armed,’ the lawsuit states.
Footage shows Woodruff handcuffed.
He was kept under police control for at least 30 minutes as police sorted out the situation.
The drill was held at 10:30am.
At 5:11pm, Victoria Petti, the hospital director, emailed staff to explain what had happened and apologize for ‘the stress’, saying she accepted it had ‘touched you all in different ways’.
Woodruff’s attorneys state the drill was announced only to supervisors in advance, with strict instructions not to inform subordinate employees or children, the dailymail reported.
Lasting trauma from the attack
Two former Hawthorn Center employees told Click On Detroit they were left with lasting trauma from the attack.
One said: ‘After the drill was over, a lot of the children actually had to be sedated, so they had to call emergency for outside hospitals.’
Another explained: ‘I couldn’t stop crying, tears rolling down my eyes, I couldn’t stop shaking, I was trembling uncontrollably,’ one of the employees said.
‘It’s created anxiety, trouble sleeping. Every time this is mentioned, it’s like reliving the event.
David Horeine, whose son was a patient at Hawthorn during the drill, said the terrified parents placed themselves between the door and their children, hoping to save them.
He told Click On Detroit: ‘But the kids were informed if the adults were to go down, the kids would have to fight for their lives.’
Horeine said they were not told by the hospital what had happened, even afterwards.
‘We find out over Facebook. We were never notified by the hospital about what happened at all on that day.’
Horeine, who has joined the class suit, called for people to be fired over the drill.
‘I don’t mince words. So I will say that I think that people who orchestrated this event need to be terminated. I think that it was gross negligence.’
Families and staff file class action lawsuits
The families and staff have filed two class-action lawsuits.
One lawsuit targets the state, as the Department of Health and Human Services operates the Hawthorn Center, while the other lawsuit focuses on specific members of the hospital staff who initiated the unannounced active shooter drill.
The lawsuits seek a comprehensive investigation by the state attorney general, full accountability for what the plaintiffs consider a grossly irresponsible decision, and damages.
Woodruff said he struggles to go in to work, but has to to support his family.
His attorney said he missed work at times over distress from the drill, and as a result of taking time and a miscalculation from the state on military service credit, Woodruff was told he didn’t qualify, by less than a day’s work, for parental leave when his baby was born in February.
His attorneys also said in March he was denied a request for mental health treatment.
Initial counseling offered by the hospital was ‘half-assed,’ and no one in the administration apologized.
‘There was no transparency about the aftermath of this,’ the worker said.
‘I feel they don’t care about what happened and they’re trying to minimize it and sweep it under the rug ‘cuz they know we are about to leave this building.’
The state health department said they were reviewing procedures.
