I urge you to consider sponsoring or supporting legislation that addresses the urgent and ongoing failures in our state’s mental health crisis response systems, especially regarding the roles of law enforcement, EMS, and the current standards for involuntary commitment under Section 302 of Pennsylvania’s Mental Health Procedures Act.

As a former emergency medical professional, this issue is deeply personal to me. I have stood on the front lines, watching helplessly as laws and protocols tied the hands of responders who wanted to act in the best interest of those in crisis, but legally could not. These moments stay with us. They haunt the families, and they haunt those of us who were trained to save lives but were forced to walk away.

Under current law, an individual must pose a “clear and present danger” to themselves or others to qualify for involuntary commitment. While this threshold was originally well-intentioned, it often proves too high and too late. It leaves families powerless to act until crisis turns into catastrophe. We need a framework that allows compassionate, proactive intervention long before someone reaches the point of no return.

The tragic case of Dylan Perry is a painful example. After being found by his wife living in his truck, unable to care for himself, intoxicated, and in clear mental and physical distress, she called EMS for help. Despite Dylan's obvious state, EMS and police declined to initiate a 302, citing that EMTs are not authorized under current law to request such holds. After being told “there was nothing they could do,” responders left the scene. Dylan was later brought to the hospital by his wife, diagnosed with renal failure, and died after being placed in a medically induced coma. This preventable loss highlights the need to expand authority and discretion for EMS in cases of psychiatric crisis.

We saw a similar failure with Cody Balmer, who was charged with attempted homicide and terrorism after setting fire near the governor’s residence. His escalating behavior, which reflected serious mental health issues, despite the family desperately seeking Mr. Balmer help, was left unaddressed by police, crisis, or medical professionals until it put lives at risk. These delays in care stem not from negligence by individual responders, but from a system that fails to support them and fails to protect the people they’re trying to help.

Sadly, this pattern isn’t new. Consider:

Ricardo Muñoz (Lancaster, 2020): Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, shot by police after his family called for help during a mental health crisis.

Roxanne Moore (Reading, 2020): A transgender woman, shot 16 times by officers while in psychiatric distress.

Christian Hall (Monroe County, 2020): A suicidal teen, shot by state police despite appearing to surrender.

And the tragedy at Memorial Hospital, where delayed psychiatric intervention and systemic communication failures allowed a deteriorating situation to spiral into loss and trauma for both the patient and the community.

These aren’t isolated events, they’re evidence of a system that criminalizes mental illness instead of treating it. First responders are inadequately trained, under-supported, and legally restricted from providing the help they often know is needed.

Families are traumatized, watching loved ones fall apart and being told repeatedly that “nothing can be done”, until it’s too late. We cannot continue ignoring the voices of those in crisis or those begging for help on their behalf.

To address these failings, I propose legislation that:

1. Expands 302 criteria to include individuals with a documented history of mental illness who are exhibiting clear signs of deterioration, even without immediate danger.
2. Mandates Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) and trauma-informed care training for all law enforcement and EMS personnel that prioritize care and de-escalation over punitive measures.
3. Establishes multidisciplinary mobile crisis teams with authority to assess and transport individuals in psychiatric crisis without requiring police escalation.
4. Permits trained EMS personnel to initiate temporary holds or emergency mental health evaluations under strict clinical guidelines.
5. Enforces accountability standards for agencies and individuals who fail to respond to mental health crises appropriately.
6. Creates state-funded mental health stabilization centers as humane alternatives to emergency departments or incarceration.
7. Establishes a transparent civilian oversight system to ensure accountability, equity, and community trust.
8. Provides state and federal funding for free or low-cost mental health services, prioritizing early intervention and accessibility. 

We need a legislative solution that treats mental health as a public health priority, not a criminal one. These lives lost are not statistics; they are preventable tragedies, each one a family broken, a future cut short, a call for help that went unanswered.

Many of our fellow citizens, including my own family members, have suffered unimaginable loss due to inadequate responsiveness and skills among law enforcement and first responders in handling mental health crises. We lost our loved one not to their mental conditions, but due to systemic failure to provide the medical attention they necessitated and deserved.

Based on personal experiences and the credible studies, such as those listed above as well as the National Alliance on Mental Illness report stating over 50% of fatal law enforcement encounters involve individuals with mental illness, it is crystal clear that we urgently need changes in our system.

I urge you to consider sponsoring or supporting legislation that addresses the urgent and ongoing failures in our state’s mental health crisis response systems, especially regarding the roles of law enforcement, EMS, and the current standards for involuntary commitment under Section 302 of Pennsylvania’s Mental Health Procedures Act.

We need a legislative solution that treats mental health as a public health priority, not a criminal one. These lives lost are not statistics, they are preventable tragedies, each one a family broken, a future cut short, a call for help that went unanswered.

I need your signature to make this legislative change a reality, to save lives and protect the mentally ill from inappropriate responses in times of distress. The loss one family has suffered is one too many. Sign this petition to help make a difference.