SACRAMENTO, California — The family of a Natomas elementary school teacher said she was unjustly arrested when she was having a mental health crisis.
The teacher is in the Sacramento County jail, but her family said she needs mental health treatment instead.
The family of Kaylin Footman said she has never been in trouble or has no history with law enforcement. They describe her as a caring teacher and feel the best way to get her help is by sending her to a mental health facility. It was a call echoed by friends and the NAACP.
The call comes after she spent more than a week at the Sacramento County jail, following what her family called a mental health crisis.
"When she realized that something had changed within her, she sought help," said Tere Harris, Footman's mother.
They said on Friday, Oct. 13 she was at Paso Verde Elementary School in Natomas where she teaches second grade.
"What happened is this teacher was involved in apparently a group text of some sort with some other colleagues, and there were very specific threats made on that group text that alluded to, again, assaulting staff member and then some other potential violence at the school involving the children," said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office.
That is when investigators said the school called police to investigate. Several hours later, Kaylin Footman was arrested at her home and charged with making terrorist threats and threats against a school official.
While in jail, the sheriff's office said she assaulted a deputy.
Betty Williams, president of the Greater Sacramento NAACP, said she believes Footman needs help. The organization along with Footman's family have been asking for her to be placed in a 5150 hold and that's been refused.
"They criminalize mental health again by using her mental health agitation to put additional charges on her and put her back in a jail cell. So, the highlight is that our system is broken. We know that. But we're trying to arrest the problem instead of treat the problem with the mental health facility," said Williams.
The family and the NAACP are asking Sheriff Jim Cooper to release the teacher to a mental health facility, but the sheriff's office said only the court can make that call now.
"Obviously, if she needs help, there's help at the jail available. UC Davis provides all psychiatric services at the jail, which she is receiving. So from there, and again we're hopeful she does get the help she needs, but as far as our duties, public safety is number one," said Sgt. Gandhi.
ABC10 also reached out to the school district. They said they are aware of the incident and this was a personnel/confidential matter.
The staff member is still employed by the district, and there has been no record of discrimination since she has been at the district.
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