South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Knife-wielding man killed by deputy a ‘tortured soul’
Before Jeffrey Guy Sacks was shot and killed by a Broward sheriff’s deputy in North Lauderdale, family members say the man plagued by mental illness had been recently taken off an experimental drug.
After bouncing in and out of treatment programs and the streets for a decade, he asked his father for money to find a place to live two weeks ago. Then he went silent.
On Thursday night, police said, Sacks, 26, was seen walking into a Ross Dress for Less store in the 7300 block of West McNab Road with a knife. Soon after, people called 911, saying Sacks had cut himself inside the store.
When a deputy arrived, Sacks came outside and threatened himself and the deputy, according to Sheriff Gregory Tony, who went to the Arena Shops plaza after the shooting.
Tony said the deputy told the man to drop the knife and backed away. Instead, Sacks ran toward the deputy and he was shot, Tony said. Sacks was taken to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, where he
died. Michael Sacks, Sack’s uncle, said police told him the news. A South Florida lawyer by trade, Sacks said he is trying to remain objective about his nephew’s death and the possibility that his history of mental illness and talks about suicide may have motivated him to intentionally try to get shot.
He said that when his nephew was 15, he stood outside his home and waved a BB gun around and attracted the attention of police. He said Sacks might have nearly been killed were it not for his sister jumping in front of him and telling police that he was mentally ill.
But not having seen any body camera or video evidence for Thursday’s shooting, he said he is torn about the deputy’s actions.
“You’re supposed to try to diffuse things,” Sacks said. “I don’t know what they did.
Did they make matters worse or did they do everything that they were able to do?”
He said he knows police are trained to use deadly force when someone comes at them with a weapon, but he wondered if they’re taught differently when dealing with someone who is obviously suffering from mental health issues. “Didn’t they know there was something wrong with him? Couldn’t they have done some other measure?” The Broward Sheriff ’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for any policies related to dealing with mentally ill suspects. On Thursday, Sheriff Tony defended his officer’s actions. “The deputy backed away as a tactical maneuver to try to deescalate,” Tony said. When that didn’t work, he fired to defend himself, he said. “I can tell you that an individual armed with a knife, we do not train individual deputies to respond with a lesser use of force. A taser is a lesser use of force. In that case, a knife is deadly force,” Tony said. Tony said investigators have looked at video evidence from witnesses in the parking were “To lot. fortunate a certain degree, to have we an individual who witnessed this and captured it on their phone and was able to cooperate and talk to our investigators so we have a chance to see this independently transpire, and I think our deputy did an outstanding job trying to deescalate this,” he said.
The deputy has been placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation by The Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Jeffrey Sacks, Guy’s father, said his son was diagnosed at age 15 with schizoaffective disorder — which combines symptoms of schizophrenia, such as hallucinations or delusions, and symptoms of a mood disorder, such as mania and depression. When he wasn’t on medication, his father said, he would often hear voices.
For 10 years, Sacks said, his son was on and off several medications. He also hopped around various treatment centers, sober homes and programs in South Florida.
Broward County arrest records show Sacks had a history of creating disturbances in public and run-ins with police. According to arrest reports in 2014, Sacks was arrested twice for causing scenes on a public bus and a Fort Lauderdale Publix. At Publix, he also threatened a police officer, according to an arrest report.
He pleaded guilty to the charges and was dealt two short stints of probation.
In August 2016, he was arrested with a friend after they had tried to steal a tip jar at a sushi restaurant in Oakland Park, according to an arrest report.
Michael Sacks, his uncle, said the arrest was “serendipitous” because Sacks was found mentally unfit to stand trial and was instead put into a court ordered rehabilitation program. He also was ordered to take his medications, which he had recently been off again.
“That was the best he ever was because he was forced to take his medication and he had these certain rules,” Michael Sacks said. “He was a tortured soul when he wasn’t on his medication.”
Court records show Sacks was sentenced to five years of probation after the 2016 incident. During that time, family said, he was relatively stable because he was constantly being monitored.
“He had a great, rosy outlook,” his uncle said.
Sacks’ father said he took a new job and moved the rest of the family to Richmond, Virginia, during this time. He hoped his son would continue to do well as he stayed behind to continue treatment in South Florida.
On Feb. 26, Sacks completed his probation period early, according to court records. Sometime before then, family members say he entered into a trial for an experimental drug to treat his condition.
Although the family was hopeful, Sacks’ father said he noticed his son’s condition grow worse. When he tried to inquire about what exactly his son was taking with Segal Trials, the company hosting the study, he said he was never given any information.
The drug trial ended two weeks ago, which is when Sacks’ father said he got a call from his son asking for help finding housing.
After wiring him money to find a place, he said he didn’t hear from his son again.
“It was not what we had planned for Jeffrey,” his father said, reflecting on his son’s death. He said they always had hopes Sacks would get better and come live with the family again one day. “That was the goal,” he said. “It didn’t come to fruition.”