A Baltimore mother is demanding answers about how her son’s request for help from a police officer during a mental health crisis ended in his death hours later at a hospital.
The Independent Investigations Division of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office released a preliminary report about the in-custody death of 31-year-old Dontae Melton on June 24.
According to the report, Melton approached an officer at 9:40 p.m. that night as the cop was sitting in his police cruiser, stopped at a traffic light at an intersection.
Investigators noted Melton appeared to be suffering a mental health crisis. He repeatedly walked in the middle of the road several times as the officer was trying to speak to him.
WJZ Investigates and Baltimore Beat obtained recordings of the cop’s call into dispatch.
“I’ve got a gentleman pulling on my doors asking for help,” the officer said on dispatch audio. “But he doesn’t look like he needs help.”
The cop later relayed to dispatchers that Melton appeared to be suffering a mental health crisis.
The IID report states that the officer tried to restrain Melton for his own safety. When backup arrived, officers placed him in handcuffs and leg restraints.
The responding officers then called in an emergency medical team, but medics never showed.
Police called for medics at least twice, but dispatch audio revealed that Baltimore’s computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, which maintains a line between police and fire units, went down during Melton’s crisis.
While they waited for EMS teams to show, Melton became unresponsive. Police waited until 10:30 p.m. before deciding to rush Melton to the hospital themselves.
At 3 a.m. on June 25, the 31-year-old was pronounced dead. Authorities have not released the cause of death yet.
Melton’s mother, Eleshia Goode, said that her son was struggling with seizures and a mood disorder and began using drugs to self-medicate. She said he checked himself into rehab seven times in the last 10 years, according to Baltimore Beat.
“When he was on his meds, he was better than when he was off,” Goode said. “When he was off, it was difficult for him—difficult in the sense that it seems like he was just battling something all the time within his mind, and that’s when the drug use entered.”
Shortly before he died, Goode noticed that Melton’s behavior was worsening.
Just one day before his death, she filed a petition for a protective order, which would notify police that her son was struggling with mental health issues.
A judge denied the petition because of Melton’s substance abuse issues.
“I stood in front of the judge in that courtroom with all those people there, and I said, ‘Listen. … I’m telling you, yes, he has a drug problem — and yes and everything else — but what I’m saying to you, judge, is this time it’s different,’” Goode said. “I was trying to follow the proper channels to have him evaluated or at least pulled off the street. That was the thing. And I was denied.”
When police made multiple calls for medics, the CAD system reportedly went down for eight minutes. According to Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott, the city is now investigating what happened when the dispatch system failed during Melton’s crisis and whether any backup systems were used.
“That’s beyond frustrating to know that a system failed — that, according to what I’m reading, the medics never got the call. To know that people waited around for the medics to get the call, and maybe I’m sounding too simple, but could they have just picked up the phone and called someone?” Goode asked. “What was the backup system? Was it in place? Was it followed? I have so many questions.”
Goode said while Melton and her family have had positive and helpful encounters with police before, this time was different. She noted too many gaps in the account of the police response to her late son’s mental crisis that need to be addressed.
“They didn’t give me any information on what happened within those eight minutes when he pulled on a police officer’s door, and then he was in shackles and handcuffs according to the 911 report, so I don’t know anything,” Goode said. “I don’t know when he went to the hospital. I don’t know what kind of condition he was in. Obviously, I don’t know what he died from. I don’t know anything, and I’m very frustrated. And I understand these types of investigations take time, but there are so many missing pieces.”
Authorities stated that they will release the identities of the officers involved as well as the body camera footage showing the encounter.
Melton leaves behind two children — a 13-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter.