The House Judiciary Committee just moved forward with a $750,000 payout for Patricia Ermini, a Lee County woman shot by deputies during a wellness check.
Rep. Dianne Hart-Lowman laid out what happened. Back in 2012, Ermini’s daughter, who lives out of state, couldn’t reach her mom and asked the sheriff’s office to check on her. A Lee County deputy parked around the corner, knocked, got no answer, and called for backup. Then, instead of leaving, the officers went in through an unlocked door. Ermini was asleep. They woke her up, guns already drawn, one of them an AR-15.
Startled, Ermini yelled that she had a gun. Deputies pushed into her bedroom and shot her several times: in the arm, in the thigh, and a bullet even grazed her head. She was 71.
A jury later awarded Ermini $750,000 in damages after she sued the sheriff’s office. But because state law puts a $200,000 cap on what local governments have to pay, the Legislature has to approve anything above that.
Lawmakers debated the details. Rep. Webster Barnaby pushed back on how people discussed the AR-15, insisting it’s just a rifle, not an automatic weapon. Hart-Lowman clarified she got that detail from the jury report. Still, Ermini’s attorney, Colleen MacAlister, said the real problem wasn’t the gun, it was the deputies’ choice to shoot before even identifying themselves.
MacAlister pointed to a legislative investigation showing deputies were inside for less than a minute before firing. After opening her bedroom door, they waited just four or five seconds before shooting.
“This happened in the blink of an eye,” MacAlister said.
