Lawsuit says county ignored slain mother’s fear of her daughter
An Allegheny County Department of Human Services employee dropped off a mentally ill woman at her mother’s house in Brighton Heights — despite the mother’s objections — hours before the woman allegedly stabbed her mother to death in 2016, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Raymond Bernard, 49, of Oakland, alleges that his mother, Madeline Bernard, 65, did not want her daughter at her home on Vernon Court because she was worried about her daughter’s severe mental illness and violent tendencies.
But a division specialist with Justice Related Services left her daughter, Sommer Bernard, 39, at the home anyway, according to the lawsuit. Justice Related Services is a county program that supports people charged with crimes who have been diagnosed with mental illness or have a co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse disorder.
At 7:15 p.m. Feb. 17, 2016, Sommer Bernard stabbed her mother in the chest several times during an argument, according to police
and the lawsuit. She was arrested and charged with criminal homicide; the case is still pending. Her attorney could not be reached.
“The system allowed my sister to take the most — the most important thing in our lives away,” Mr. Bernard said Monday, struggling to maintain his composure. “This is emotional pain that we’ve got to live with for the rest of our lives. Because the system dropped the [expletive] ball.”
Allegheny County spokeswoman Amie Downs declined to comment on the lawsuit and could not immediately answer questions about Justice Related Services’ policies and employees.
According to the lawsuit, Sommer Bernard was released into the custody of Rachelle Terry, a division specialist with Justice Related Services, as part of a “diversionary program for pre-trial detainees with mental health issues.”
Ms. Terry should have taken Sommer Bernard to a supervised group care facility or mental institution, according to the lawsuit, but instead left her on her mother’s doorstep with no advanced warning.
Madeline Bernard told Ms. Terry on several occasions that she did not want her daughter to return to her home, according to the lawsuit.
Sommer Bernard had previously threatened her mother with a baseball bat, Mr. Bernard said, and had tried to choke him to death once while he was sleeping.
“My sister is very aggressive, she’s very violent, she’s very dangerous,” he said.
Ms. Terry was fired after the incident, according to the lawsuit. Neither she nor her supervisor, Erin O’Brien, who is also named in the lawsuit, could be reached for comment Monday. Ms. Downs could not confirm the employment status of either woman.
Mr. Bernard said his sister began to experience mental health problems around 2010. She’d been an artist before that, he said, and designed clothing. Madeline Bernard was a compassionate woman who did her best to support her daughter, Mr. Bernard said.
“She just would not alienate my sister,” he said. “She knew that she was mentally ill, but for some reason she wouldnot see her homeless.”
When Sommer Bernard had been jailed in the past, she’d returned to Madeline Bernard’s home to live after she was released, he said. But after Sommer Bernard’s last arrest — when the woman allegedly stole a van and led police on a high speed chase — her mother didn’t want to take her back in, Mr. Bernard said.
“My mother made multiple calls, multiple, multiple calls to [Justice Related Services] about not wanting my sister back at her address,” he said.
His attorney, D. Aaron Rihn, said Monday that he and Mr. Bernard hope the lawsuit spurs Allegheny County to change policies or procedures.
“It’s about affecting some sort of change so this sort of thing doesn’t happen again,” he said.