18 hours ago
Florida woman with dementia in jail after allegedly attacking her husband with a hammer
Editor's note: Please read an update to this story,
GULF BREEZE, Fla. (WKRG) — 79-year-old Elizabeth Collins, who suffers from dementia, currently sits in the medical wing of the Santa Rosa County Jail.
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That's after deputies responded to her home on Bay Woods Drive in Gulf Breeze last Monday, on June 2.
Deputies said Collins attacked her husband with scissors and a hammer believing he was an intruder.
According to an arrest report, deputies had responded to the home 11 times since July of 2024 for various incidents stemming from Collins's medical condition.
Sheriff Bob Johnson said his deputies were left with no choice but to arrest her.
'They're in a no win situation,' Johnson said. 'They're either going to arrest a 79-year-old woman with dementia or they're going to leave her there and possibly she would kill a family member.'
Florida's mental health law, the Baker Act, allows people to be detained without arrest to undergo an evaluation. However, it did not apply in this case because the law specifically excludes dementia from its definition of mental illness.
'The husband was adamant about pressing charges so by Florida state statute we took her into custody,' Johnson said.
Now, the sheriff's office is working with the Council on Aging to get her out of jail and into the care she needs.
'We had spoken with the sheriff's office, they've been very proactive reaching out to us trying to do what's right for this case. We had been advising them a bit about the Medicaid enrollment process, and we know the family had started that, as well as what it might take to get facility placement for Ms. Collins,' Emily Echevarria, Marketing & Communications Director for the Council on Aging of West Florida said.
Attorney Kimberly Sullivan reached out to the Council on Aging hoping to help.
'We've got great relationships with the amazing resources that we have in Pensacola so we are going to be reaching out to all of our resources to see what we can do to get those planets aligned so that we can get her hopefully where she needs to be,' Kimberly Sullivan, Attorney at Coastal Probate Trust & Elder Law said.
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In the meantime, Sheriff Bob Johnson said the only solution to this problem is new legislation.
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