House committee advances $750,000 payout to Lee County woman shot by deputies during well check

The House Judiciary Committee advanced relief for a Lee County woman shot by deputies during a well check.

Rep. Dianne Hart-Lowman presented legislation (HR 6527) to require the payout of a $750,000 jury verdict against the Lee County Sheriff’s Office over a 2012 incident after a Lee County Sheriff’s Deputy went to the home of Patricia Ermini.

“Miss Ermini’s daughter, who resides out of state, requested a wellness check be conducted after her mother missed multiple phone calls that evening,” Hart-Lowman, a Tampa Democrat, said.

“A Lee County Sheriff’s deputy parked his car around the corner from her house, knocked on the front door, and after receiving no response, called for backup. The officer came in through an unlocked front door, waking Miss Ermini out of her sleep. The officers entered with guns drawn, one being an AR-15.”

When Ermini heard intruders, she shouted that she had a gun. Ultimately, deputies entered her bedroom, and she was shot in her arm and thigh, with another bullet grazing her head. She was 71 at the time of the incident.

While a jury awarded $750,000 in damages to Ermini after she sued the department, as reported by Bloomberg Law. But government sovereignty laws cap damages for local governments in such cases at $200,000 unless payments are authorized by the Florida Legislature.

The bill generated some discussion, with Rep. Webster Barnaby, a Deltona Republican, taking issue with the discussion of the firearm used.

“There seems to be a demon-ation of the AR-15, which is a rifle,” he said. “It’s not an automatic gun, it’s a rifle. Where did you get the information from that it was an AR-15?”

Hart-Lowman stressed that information came from a jury report. But Colleen MacAlister, Ermini’s attorney, stressed the type of gun used didn’t matter so much as the decision to shoot a woman in her own home.

“The issue in this case was the communication. There would have been no need for the use of the AR-15 had the deputies actually taken the time to tell Mr. Ermini who they were,” MacAlister said.

A Special Master investigation by the Legislature showed deputies were in the home less than a minute before deciding to open fire. After opening the bedroom door, deputies waited only four or five seconds to shoot, MacAlister said.

“This happened in the blink of an eye,” the attorney said.