Slosberg back on duty after treatment

Boca legislator was hospital for PTSD, according to her father in

A Boca Raton state legislator was hospitalized last month after law enforcement responded to a report that she was acting erratically and could be a danger to herself, according to a police report and her father.

State Rep. Emily Slosberg returned to legislative meetings last week after spending three weeks in the hospital being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, said her father, former state Rep. Irv Slosberg.

Irv Slosberg 38-year-old daughter with the trauma of losing her twin sister and four friends in a 1996 car wreck. Only 14 at the time, Emily Slosberg also was seriously injured in the wreck.

“The bottom line is she was back at her desk last week filing legislation and speaking to constituents,” Irv Slosberg said. “She is making a rapid recovery. She is finally dealing with losing her twin sister and her friends.”

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office received a report on Oct. 7 of a possibly “suicidal female” who had been observed acting erratically.

Emily Slosberg told deputies that she was not taking her medication and has depression. She complained that her hands were “on fire,” even though there were no visible injuries, according to the report. A security officer told a deputy that he saw Slosberg chassaid is still his dealing

ing a car leaving her father’s neighborhood and trying to open the car door.

She was taken to Delray Medical Center, according to the report.

Emily Slosberg’s cellphone was not in service this week. A message left at her office Wednesday afternoon was not returned. Irv Slosberg said his daughter will do interviews in a few weeks when she has had time to recover.

Irv Slosberg said his daughter is still under a “partial hospitalization,” but she will be able to fulfill her legislative responsibilities while receiving treatment. Lawmakers are meeting in committees ahead of the 60-day legislative session that starts Jan. 14.

Emily Slosberg was one of seven middle-schoolers who piled into the back seat of a car that crashed into an oncoming vehicle at 90 mph, hurling the teens in the back seat through the rear window. Emily Slosberg’s identical twin, Dori, was among the five killed; Slosberg suffered broken bones and a punctured lung in the crash. The 19-year-old driver and a front-seat passenger survived, as did another girl in the back seat, who was paralyzed.

The 19-year-old driver was convicted of manslaughter and served 13 years in prison.

Emily Slosberg won election in 2016 to a seat previously held by her father. She ran unopposed in 2018.

As a legislator, Slosberg championed Florida’s texting-while-driving law, which was passed earlier this year after several years of failed attempts. She’s used the story of the car crash to sway legislators to support the law.

Slosberg had another encounter with law enforcement on Jan. 4, involving trespassing allegations at her former Boca Raton residence that she had sold. Slosberg was accused of hiring a locksmith to “unlawfully” swap out the front door locks for the Caliente Lane home she sold in December.

She avoided prosecution on two misdemeanor charges through a deal to pay $500 to the victims in the case and complete 25 hours of community service.

Anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts should call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.