Family of teacher killed by DeSoto police believes 'broken' mental health system failed him

DESOTO, Texas - Family members were trying to get a Dallas ISD teacher help before he was shot and killed in an officer-involved shooting back in March.

The family of Michael Nunez said he started getting delusional just days before the encounter with law enforcement, in which he lost his life.

His family, and advocates, said it's evidence of a broken mental health system that often puts police in the unenviable position of weighing a person's individual liberties against medical care.

Through interviews, videos, and records, FOX 4 was able to piece together the days leading up to Nunez’s death.

It paints a picture of a family navigating an, at times, tough to understand system and begging for help, but unable to find it.

"Liked helping people. He just liked helping the kids, and from everything we read, the kids loved his teaching," Nunez’s mother, Sylvia Lopez, said of her son.

For many of his 47 years, Nunez helped others.

The father of two was a Dallas ISD teacher, most recently working at Molina High School in East Oak Cliff.

"He took an interest in the kids and he was there for them," Lopez said.

But Nunez’s mother said he suddenly began to show signs that he needed help in the early morning hours of March 19.

"From about midnight until that 4 a.m., he had been texting his sister and his uncle and random texts," Lopez recalled. "Started acting like he was talking like he was God or the Archangel Michael, and then saying he had to delete the texts and they were just crazy."

Lopez said her son had no history of psychotic episodes, but over the next few days he walked out in the middle of class, tried to visit relatives at work, and made more delusional comments.

"He told me that he needed to look in our eyes and make sure that everything was okay. And that if it was okay, he would let us go," Lopez said. "I know that Michael loved us with all of his heart. But I do believe he would have killed us that night had we gone."

Officers said Nunez did not pose a threat to himself or others, and they referred his family to the regional CARE team that helps with mental health issues in four cities, including DeSoto.

The department said it provided the family information on how to get a court order to have Nunez committed to a facility for treatment, but the family said he also showed signs he was getting better that week.

"It seemed that on like Friday and Saturday or, you know, and Thursday even, that he was doing a little better. So we didn't feel panicked to get the order in," Lopez said.

That was, until Sunday, March 26.

"You awake?" Nunez asked.

"Yeah, I'm awake. What's going on bud," the officer responded.

Body camera footage obtained by FOX 4 shows officers responding to reports someone was knocking over trash cans at a park.

"We're angels, we have one day. I'm supposed to dump all the trash, it's giving me clues to continue. I don't know if you've seen field of dreams," Nunez said.

An officer contacted Lopez and gave her two options: Take Nunez to jail for littering or have family come pick him up, which was something Lopez is heard telling officers they are afraid to do.

"We're a little bit afraid of him right now. We actually thought last weekend when we called y'all that he was going to kill us if we went over there," she said.

The officer claimed Nunez did not meet the criteria for an Apprehension by Peace Officer Without Warrant, also known as an APOWW.

State law allows an officer to take a person directly to a mental health facility if they believe a person who appears mentally ill might harm themselves or others and "the risk of harm is imminent unless the person is immediately restrained."

"Like I said, he has to be a danger to himself, like he has to make threats of suicide or stuff like that," the officer is heard saying on the body camera video.

Chad Ruback is an attorney not involved in the matter. He said the law allows for an officer's discretion.

"The officer has a great degree of judgment there. You know, someone who strikes you as being dangerous might strike an officer as not being dangerous. In fact, one officer might find someone to be dangerous, another officer might not," Ruback explained.

Nunez was ultimately booked into the Tri-City Jail, a small, municipal jail shared by four cities, including DeSoto.

Lopez said they called the jail, police, and the department's CARE Unit, hoping he would not be released before they got a court order to have him committed to a mental health facility.

Voicemails obtained by FOX 4 highlight those efforts.

"I really need to talk to someone who can do something to help us get him into probably the Parkland Psych ER," Lopez said during a call with the CARE Unit.

They also visited Nunez’s apartment and found it trashed, then called police and left a voicemail.

"He has torn out stuff in the walls, it's just a total disaster, we don't know if that would be grounds for keeping him longer or what is going on," Lopez said.

"I am the aunt of Michael Nunez. I am a clinical psychologist," Nunez’s aunt said during a call to the CARE Unit. "His family is afraid to come and pick him up. We are working on a mental health warrant as we speak right now."

That voicemail was left Sunday, March 26, for DeSoto PD’s CARE Unit, but the CARE Unit, which helps deal with mental health, only operates weekdays, during business hours.

The family was able to get a mental health warrant Monday, March 27.

It was filed at 12:12 p.m., exactly 30 minutes after an officer shot and killed Nunez.

The jail had released Nunez that morning, at 9:02 a.m., less than 24 hours after his arrest.

Two and a half hours after his release, a terrified woman called 911 and said someone had wandered into her home.

Police responded to the location, which was within walking distance from the jail, and encountered Nunez.

He walked toward officers carrying a metal object in his hand, and they shot and killed him.

"When you are addressed with someone with a lethal weapon, a knife, the officer believed it was a knife, as you heard him say ‘he’s got a knife,’ then the only response was lethal force," DeSoto Police Chief Joseph Costa said previously when addressing this case.

Through a city spokesperson, Costa declined an interview with FOX 4, agreeing only to answer questions via email.

Costa said the department has not and is not reviewing how officers handled Nunez’s arrest at the park and said: "Mr. Nunez did not appear to be an immediate danger to himself or others at the time."

Asked if the department failed Nunez, Costa replied, "No".

But experts and Nunez's family believe more could have been done before that deadly encounter ever happened.

"We've become so used to calling the police for everything, because that's where we've put in most of our resources," said Krish Gundu, who is executive director of the non-profit Texas Jail Project.

Gundu said the best solution would be if a person in crisis gets help before an officer decides whether they are an imminent risk.

"We do not want to violate people's civil rights, right? And so that's why it was put in place. But I think now we've come to a point where, and my personal opinion is that I am not willing to let people die with their rights on," she said.

Gundu also said the state does not have enough resources to educate the public and respond when someone is in crisis.

Lopez said they didn't learn until the Monday when Nunez was killed that there's a way to get a mental health warrant over the weekend and after hours.

Even though DeSoto PD’s CARE Unit, which helps with mental health, still only operates during business hours on weekdays, the department said it updated its voicemail message to make its hours clear since the incident.

"People know about the police because that's what we've really deeply invested in, but as a community, we haven't invested in all these other resources and talked about them enough so people don't know about them," Gundu added.

"There's so many what ifs. What if we'd gotten the order in on Friday? But what if we had gotten the order in and then they let him go? You know, so I don't know," Lopez said.

Lopez believes the system failed her son.

Now, she hopes getting help is easier when others call to get help for a loved one in crisis.

"And I just think it is a broken system. Michael should have gotten the help he needed," Lopez said.

Jails are required by law to do mental health screenings, but those are only required for those jailed for Class B misdemeanors and higher. Nunez's littering charge was a Class C.

A new law will go into effect in September expanding the screenings to include everyone jailed, regardless of the crime.

As for the officer-involved shooting, the Dallas County District Attorney's Office is currently reviewing the case.

Prosecutors have not made the autopsy public, citing the ongoing investigation.

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