By Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Staff Writer

The Greater Sacramento NAACP and other local advocates on Monday stood with family and supporters of Kaylin Footman, who is being held in the Sacramento County main jail after suffering an apparent mental health crisis.

Footman, a second-grade teacher at Paso Verde Elementary, suffered a debilitating mental health crisis over many days that culminated Oct. 13. Footman had been repeatedly exposed to colleagues’ racist aggressions, which led to her seeking an on-campus mental health professional, said Betty Williams, president of the Greater Sacramento NAACP.

“It’s unfortunate that we have to be here right now dealing with an issue that could have been resolved,” Williams said. “Mental health is a serious issue in the city.”

Footman responsibly seeking help initiated what Williams said was a deeply disturbing chain of events. Rather than being taken to a psychiatric hospital for treatment and care, Footman was arrested Oct. 14 facing charges Williams said “should have never been rendered against her.” 

Tere Harris, Footman’s mother, said she and other family members desperately tried to get her daughter the services she needed. “In the process some things were said and taken out of context, and she was switched from a 5150 and going to the hospital to going to a jail cell, which is not helping her at all,” Harris said tearfully. “I’m just pleading … please, allow her to get the services she needs. She has never been arrested. She has never had any problems. She loves teaching and she’s never hurt anyone.”

Harris said her daughter has no history of aggression or violence.

“After being pushed beyond her limits and being denied access to care my daughter became delusional and irrational,” Harris said. “Rather than receive the medical attention that my daughter desperately needed, the service rendered by the Natomas Unified School District was instead to criminalize a beloved teacher by notifying law enforcement.”

Paso Verde Elementary has not responded to The OBSERVER’s request for comment.

A judge ordered Footman be transferred to a mental health facility by Oct. 20, but she remains jailed with no timeline for her transfer.

“When deputies opened the jail cell, supposedly to transfer Footman to a mental health facility, it is alleged that she became violent and caused harm to one of the deputies,” Williams said. “The sheriff is now refusing to transfer Ms. Footman to an appropriate, community-based mental health facility for people with serious mental health issues.”

Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi said that Footman assaulted a deputy while in custody, resulting in additional charges, for which her arraignment is scheduled Oct. 23.

“The courts will decide if and when she is to be transferred and we will of course help facilitate whatever the court decides,” Gandhi said in an email to The OBSERVER.

Kate Carlson, attorney with the Sacramento County Public Defender’s Office, said Footman is not in the “right place.”

“This is not unusual,” Carlson said. “Kaylin is fortunate enough to have a loving family and community to lift her up and to hold her. Not all of my clients have that.”

The NAACP, Footman’s family and the community are pleading with the Natomas Unified School District and Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department to immediately drop all charges against Kaylin and support her transfer to a community-based mental health facility.

“When you took her to jail, you betrayed her trust,” said Bobbie Wooten, a relative. “We needed you to take her to a place where she could get help, not somewhere that would harm her.”

Williams said Sheriff Jim Cooper ought to be ashamed of himself.

“This is his responsibility. He sees over the jail. He talks about the number of mental health inmates that he has who need to seek treatment; however when this second-grade teacher was agitated, you put her back in jail,” Williams said.

Mental Health In Sacramento 

The NAACP said Footman’s case reveals several preventable misjudgments by the Sacramento Police Department and the sheriff’s office, and underscores a significant reason why this county is in danger of federal receivership considering that approximately two-thirds of those who are inside our jails are in need of mental health treatment in a community-based mental health facility.

Despite the family’s best efforts, Footman was failed by Sacramento police and the sheriff’s office over and over again, the NAACP said in a statement. “Kaylin’s family did everything right,” it read. “They went to her side, accessed emergent mental health services, continued to call law enforcement when a 5150 hold was refused, called 9-8-8, called the limited county options only offered Monday through Friday during business hours, and they continued to advocate after the injustice of jailing.”

Carlson said such situations occur too frequently. “Until we stop using our county jail and our criminal justice system as a mental health system, unfortunately it’s going to continue.”

Jaime Naranjo, who was shot and killed by a Sacramento sheriff’s deputy last year, also was suffering from a mental health crisis, said his daughter Ericka Naranjo.

“He was shot five times without de-escalation. We still have no answers,” Naranjo said. “Mental health crises shouldn’t be met with murder. … We are people, we are loved ones, we have so much to give and so much to offer and are taken away.”

Naranjo attended a local march against police brutality Sunday. There she heard several stories of people killed by police during mental health crises. She stands with Footman’s family.

“I’m afraid for her; I’m afraid for her mom, her family. They don’t deserve to be dealing with any of this pain,” Naranjo said. “How would you feel if a loved one was locked up for being sick? How would you feel if your loved one was gunned down in his front yard for calling for help?

“More families should not have to go through this, especially brown and Black ones. It’s like we’re being hunted for sport.”

Meg White, with J.U.I.C.E. Sacramento (Justice Unites Individuals and Communities Everywhere), said Footman was 16 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement because of her suffering from an undiagnosed mental health disorder.

White said for a family of someone who is arrested unjustly to have to wrangle several organizations to get any kind of message to the sheriff is “absolutely unacceptable.”

“This is yet another example of how wildly ineffective and just cruel our mental health care system is and our lack of having an emergency response team with actual trained mental health care professionals,” White said.

White said Sacramento needs a mental health response system available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Mental health is not open just between business hours,” White said. “Oftentimes, mental health crises occur outside of these hours.”

**UPDATE**

As of Oct. 24, Footman has been released to a mental health facility according to Kate Carlson with the public defender’s office. 

Footman still faces charges.