A judge has approved a $13 million settlement in a lawsuit over an unannounced active shooter drill at a Michigan children’s psychiatric hospital, an event that terrified children and staff and sent them running for cover, leaving their families had to send a text message and urgently call 911.
Someone at the front desk stated over a loudspeaker system that two armed men were inside the state-run Hawthorn Center in Metro Detroit and that shots had been fired, attorney Robin Wagner said.
That was not true, but the message of December 21, 2022 caused a stir.
“Everyone said, ‘Oh my God. This is the worst day of my life,'” Wagner said Tuesday. “People were hiding under their desks. They were barricading the doors and trying to figure out how to keep the kids safe.”
The police apparently knew nothing about an exercise. Dozens of officers responding to 911 calls showed up with body armor and high-powered weapons, expecting the worst.
Two people who were told to pose as shooters were captured, Wagner said. They were not armed.
“It was horrible,” she said.
Fifty children at the hospital will receive about $60,000 each. Among the staff, 90 people will receive an average of more than $50,000 depending on their score on a trauma exam, Wagner said. Two dozen others will receive smaller amounts.
“The state recognized that this was a really bad decision and harmed a lot of people,” Wagner said of the exercise.
Court of Claims Judge James Redford approved the settlement on Oct. 4, records show. More than $3 million will go to lawyers in the case.
In 2023, when a lawsuit was filed, the Department of Health and Human Services said the hospital was required to conduct a “risk-vulnerability assessment” to identify potential emergency situations, including active shooter drills.
Spokesperson Lynn Sutfin also said the department is working with police to improve active training of intruders.
She did not immediately respond to an email about the settlement on Tuesday.
Wagner said the exercise was organized by the Hawthorn Center’s safety director, who still works for the state. Hawthorn Center was subsequently closed for reasons unrelated to what had happened.
