By Kara Berg
The Detroit News
NORTHVILLE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services will pay nearly a dozen patients and employees of a Northville Township child psychiatric hospital $13 million after the hospital held an unannounced active shooter drill that attorneys say traumatized patients and staff.
The Hawthorn Center held an active shooter drill in December 2022 but did not tell patients, most employees or local police, dispatchers or EMS that the drill was going on, according to the lawsuits. The center had two employees act as fake intruders during the drill, who were surrounded by police pointing guns at them after patients and staff called 911 thinking the drill was real, according to the employees’ lawsuits.
Two children who were at the Hawthorn Center during the drill, a then-11-year-old boy and a then-14-year-old girl, and employees NaQuana Jones, Jason Smith, Jennifer Vance, Kai Mason, Annette Padula, Chauncey Payne , Jr., Brandon Woodruff and Hawk Kennedy were named in the settlement agreement. All except Payne filed lawsuits in Wayne County as well, which were closed as a result of the settlement.
MDHHS denied any allegations of wrongdoing or liability asserted by the plaintiffs, but nonetheless agreed to pay the $13 million settlement, according to the agreement. MDHHS spokesperson Lynn Sutfin did not immediately respond for comment.
Hospital director Victoria Petti allegedly directed a front desk clerical worker to make an announcement over the PA system saying there were active intruders in the building and to sound genuinely afraid, according to the lawsuit. A second announcement followed, identifying the intruders as two men armed with AR-15s who had fired shots.
These two men were Kennedy and Woodruff, who had been instructed to act as fake intruders during the drill.
The announcements sent children and employees into a panic, believing an active shooter was on the premises, according to the lawsuit. Adults barricaded themselves into places with no windows, stacked heavy furniture against the doors and armed themselves and the children with whatever they could find. Employees texted or called friends and family members, afraid they were going to die, to tell them they loved them.
During the drill, patients and staff panicked and called 911. Because police and dispatchers did not know the threat wasn’t real, dispatchers sent 50 emergency response vehicles from state and local agencies and police in riot gear with long guns, to the center.
When Kennedy and Woodruff went out to the kitchen loading dock, they were surrounded by police armed with long guns and rifles who ordered them to open their jackets, lift their shirts, lift their hands into the air and get on the ground. Even though Kennedy and Woodruff identified themselves as employees and said this was a drill, police treated them as criminals, according to the lawsuits.
Both Kennedy and Woodruff said they were terrified they would be shot by police.
“We are quite pleased that both the Hawthorn Center and the state of Michigan are being held accountable for their misconduct that endangered vulnerable patients and their caregivers,” said Robin Wagner, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs. “While active shooter drills should be taken seriously, it should not be at the expense of patients’ and staff’s mental wellbeing. We are hopeful this settlement can provide closure for those traumatized on that horrific day.”
In a March report about the drill, MDHHS found there was not enough evidence to indicate staff members violated any work rules or policies. But it also found that not enough staff members were aware of the drill.
Derek Leppek, safety coordinator at the Hawthorn Center, told state investigators that he had told staff during a safety committee meeting Dec. 20 that a drill would have to be done by the end of December and said to be prepared for one to come in the next few days. There were 12 people in attendance at the safety meeting, including Leppek. Leppek said he thought people knew it was a drill because some people in the halls were not taking it seriously. But according to the report, even Leppek had trouble convincing the police that it was a drill; he was put in the back of a police car with a security guard and it took them 10 minutes to convince someone to uncuff Kennedy and Woodruff.
Leppek said police told him there should not have been any mention of weapons in the announcement for the drill and police should have been notified, according to the state report. He said he intentionally ran the drill unannounced, just as he would run a fire drill unannounced.
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