Michigan ordered to pay $13m after active shooter drill traumatizes patients at psychiatric hospital for kids

The state of Michigan has been ordered to pay a $13 million settlement after an unannounced active shooter drill left patients and staff at a psychiatric hospital for children traumatized.

The incident on December 21 2022 at the Hawthorn Center in Hawthorn, Michigan, set off a frenzy, with children and their carers scrambling for cover, calling 911 and texting loved ones.

Someone at the front desk declared through a speaker system that two armed men were inside the state-run Hawthorn Center in suburban Detroit and that shots were fired, attorney Robin Wagner said.

The incident was a drill with two people told to pose as shooters and be captured, Wagner said. They were not armed.

However, members of staff at the hospital were not aware of the planned drill, nor were police. Dozens of officers responding to 911 calls showed up at Hawthorn Center with body armor and high-powered weapons.

“It was horrifying,” Wagner said Tuesday.

“Everyone went into, ‘Oh my God. This is the worst day of my life… People were hiding under their desks. They were barricading the doors, trying to figure out how to protect the children.”

According to the settlement, fifty children at the hospital each will receive roughly $60,000.

Among 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 get smaller amounts.

“The state recognized that this was really a bad decision and harmed a lot of people,” she said of the drill.

Court of Claims Judge James Redford approved the settlement on October 4, according to records obtained by the Associated Press. More than $3 million will go to attorneys in the case.

The Michigan state Department of Health and Human Services “felt it was in the best interest of all involved parties to settle this matter,” spokesperson Lynn Sutfin said Tuesday.

“We regret that our patients, staff and community were negatively affected by the unfortunate incident in December 2022,” she said.

Wagner said the drill was organized by the Hawthorn Center’s safety director, who still works for the state.