SB 8 full text · Session Watch

Florida Senate - 2026 (NP) SB 8 By Senator Rodriguez 40-00019-26 20268__

1 A bill to be entitled

2 An act for the relief of Patricia Ermini by the Lee

3 County Sheriff’s Office; providing for an

4 appropriation to compensate her for injuries sustained

5 as a result of the negligence of the Lee County

6 Sheriff’s Office; providing a limitation on the

7 payment of compensation and attorney fees; providing

8 an effective date.

10 WHEREAS, on the evening of March 23, 2012, 71-year-old

11 Patricia Ermini spoke on the telephone with her daughter, Robin

12 Lacasse, who found that her mother was extremely upset in the

13 wake of her contentious and expensive divorce after a brief

14 marriage, and

15 WHEREAS, Ms. Lacasse suggested to her mother that she hang

16 up, take some time to calm down, and, afterward, call her back,

17 which her mother did; however, Ms. Lacasse missed her mother’s

18 call, and

19 WHEREAS, when Ms. Ermini failed to reach her daughter, she

20 went to bed in her bedroom, which was being cooled by a window

21 air conditioner, and

22 WHEREAS, over the course of half an hour, Ms. Lacasse

23 repeatedly tried to return her mother’s call, and, when her

24 mother did not answer, Ms. Lacasse called the Lee County

25 Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) to request that a well-being check be

26 conducted to determine whether her mother was safe, and

27 WHEREAS, shortly before 9 p.m., LCSO dispatch relayed the

28 call for a well-being check to Deputy Charlene Palmese, with

29 Deputies Richard Lisenbee and Robert Hamer also responding to

30 the call, conveying the following information to the deputies:

31 Ms. Ermini’s name and age; that the request for a well-being

32 check had been initiated by Ms. Ermini’s daughter, who did not

33 reside in Lee County and was afraid for her mother’s life; that

34 Ms. Ermini was in the middle of a difficult divorce; that Ms.

35 Ermini had told her daughter that she “couldn’t take it

36 anymore”; that Ms. Ermini’s daughter was worried that Ms. Ermini

37 might commit suicide; that Ms. Ermini had never threatened

38 suicide before; that Ms. Ermini did not suffer from mental

39 illness; and that Ms. Ermini had a gun and might have been

40 drinking, and

41 WHEREAS, at the time of the call, Deputy Lisenbee was on

42 probation and undergoing remedial training, in part because of

43 his demonstrated inability to control scenes or suspects through

44 verbal commands, and he later told investigators that he could

45 not recall receiving training in the conduct of well-being

46 checks, and

47 WHEREAS, Deputy Palmese had completed her field training

48 only a few days before the call, during which she received

49 instruction on how to respond to a well-being check, but she

50 later told investigators that she could not recall whether, at

51 the time of the call, she had ever actually participated in a

52 well-being check, and

53 WHEREAS, Deputy Hamer had been to many suicide threat

54 calls, and he made it a practice to carry his rifle when it was

55 known that a firearm was present on the premises where the

56 subject of the call was located, and

57 WHEREAS, Deputy Lisenbee, who was the first to arrive at

58 Ms. Ermini’s home in response to the call, observed that there

59 were no lights on in the home when he arrived and, after a brief

60 exterior check, went to the front door, where he secured a

61 screen door in the open position, knocked on the door, and

62 announced, “Sheriff’s Office,” to no response, and

63 WHEREAS, Deputy Lisenbee determined that the front door was

64 unlocked, opened the door, and again said, “Sheriff’s Office,”

65 followed by “Anyone here? Anyone home?” to no response, and

66 WHEREAS, Deputy Palmese was second to arrive, followed by

67 Deputy Hamer, who, like the other deputies, parked out of view

68 from inside the residence, and

69 WHEREAS, Deputy Hamer retrieved from the trunk of his

70 vehicle his AR-15 rifle, which was equipped with a flashlight

71 and a sighting device that allowed him to find his target more

72 quickly and easily, and

73 WHEREAS, Deputy Hamer determined that the three deputies,

74 all of whom were wearing dark green uniforms, should go into the

75 residence to clear the house, and

76 WHEREAS, Deputy Hamer activated the flashlight on his

77 rifle, and Deputy Lisenbee announced “Sheriff’s Office” once or

78 twice more before they entered the home, after which they

79 proceeded to move about the dark residence in silence as they

80 cleared the living room, finally arriving at the primary

81 bedroom, which had double doors, both of which were closed, and

82 WHEREAS, without knocking or further announcing their

83 presence, Deputy Lisenbee opened the right-hand bedroom door and

84 shined his flashlight on a female, who appeared to be asleep on

85 the bed wearing only undergarments, and

86 WHEREAS, after Deputy Lisenbee entered the bedroom doorway,

87 he announced, “Sheriff’s Office. Are you okay?” to which the

88 woman responded, “Who’s there? Who’s there?,” and

89 WHEREAS, Deputy Lisenbee said, “Sheriff’s Office. We’re

90 here to make sure you’re okay. Are you okay?,” and

91 WHEREAS, Deputy Lisenbee said that, although the woman may

92 have sounded frightened, he did not temper his tone, nor did he

93 ever shine his flashlight on himself to allow Ms. Ermini to see

94 that he was, in fact, a uniformed officer, and

95 WHEREAS, Deputy Hamer said he heard Ms. Ermini say, “What

96 are you doing here? I have a gun,” and

97 WHEREAS, Deputy Hamer later acknowledged that he didn’t

98 know whether Ms. Ermini had heard or understood Deputy Lisenbee,

99 yet nonetheless, he turned off the flashlight on his gun, “took

100 the point,” and stepped in front of Deputy Lisenbee because, he

101 said, he had more weaponry, was the senior officer on scene, and

102 had significantly more gun range time, and

103 WHEREAS, terrified, Ms. Ermini told the person at the

104 doorway, whom she perceived as an intruder, to get out of her

105 house “because [she had] a gun” and, with that, jumped up from

106 the bed and hid behind the still-closed left-hand bedroom door,

107 and

108 WHEREAS, it remains unclear whether Ms. Ermini grabbed her

109 gun as she ran to shelter behind the door, and

110 WHEREAS, as Ms. Ermini tried to look around the bedroom

111 door, she was shot multiple times, with Deputy Hamer firing

112 seven rounds from his rifle through the closed bedroom door, and

113 WHEREAS, according to the chief crime scene investigator, a

114 bullet fired through the middle of the door struck Ms. Ermini in

115 her left leg, shattering her femur and causing her to fall

116 backward onto the floor; another bullet hit her in the upper

117 right arm, leaving a portion of her upper arm missing; and a

118 third bullet caused a graze wound across the back of her head,

119 and

120 WHEREAS, a wood splinter from the door lodged in her right

121 eye, temporarily blinding her in that eye, and

122 WHEREAS, it was less than 2 minutes from the time of entry

123 until Ms. Ermini was shot multiple times and fell to the floor,

124 and

125 WHEREAS, Deputy Hamer notified dispatch of the shooting and

126 continued to sweep the bedroom before finally delivering first

127 aid to Ms. Ermini, whom he handcuffed because she was still

128 alive and therefore posed a possible threat to the deputies, and

129 WHEREAS, Lee County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) were

130 dispatched at the same time as the officers and were waiting

131 just two blocks away, which likely saved Ms. Ermini’s life, and

132 WHEREAS, when the lead paramedic for EMS arrived, he

133 determined that Ms. Ermini had life-threatening injuries to the

134 front and back of her left leg and to the front and back of her

135 right arm, and a laceration to the back of her head just above

136 the neckline, and

137 WHEREAS, Ms. Ermini repeatedly asked the paramedic why she

138 had been shot, who the intruders were, and why they were in her

139 home, and

140 WHEREAS, Ms. Ermini’s most grievous injury was the

141 shattered femur in her left leg, and moving her caused her

142 significant blood loss and excruciating pain, and

143 WHEREAS, Ms. Ermini was taken to Lee Memorial Hospital in

144 critical condition and later admitted to the intensive care

145 unit, and

146 WHEREAS, in addition to the gunshot wounds, Ms. Ermini had

147 numerous wounds on her face from the wood splinters from the

148 bedroom door, and

149 WHEREAS, an LCSO lieutenant who followed the ambulance to

150 the hospital initially refused the emergency room doctor’s

151 request to remove the handcuffs from Ms. Ermini; emergency room

152 staff were told that Ms. Ermini “tried to kill a cop”; and Ms.

153 Ermini’s family members were denied visitation, and

154 WHEREAS, doctors were able to save Ms. Ermini’s eye with

155 surgery, but her vision has deteriorated since the incident, and

156 WHEREAS, Ms. Ermini required multiple surgeries to repair

157 her femur and address her wounds, including multiple skin grafts

158 on her shoulder, and

159 WHEREAS, after discharge, she suffered a severe septic

160 infection that caused her tremendous pain, and the pain

161 medications she was prescribed induced debilitating paranoia,

162 and

163 WHEREAS, on March 24, 2012, Sheriff Mike Scott told the

164 news media that Ms. Ermini shot at deputies who had responded to

165 a well-being check and that they returned fire, which directly

166 contradicts Deputy Hamer’s statement, in which he indicated that

167 he shot first, and

168 WHEREAS, on March 29, 2012, Ms. Ermini was arrested in the

169 intensive care unit on two counts of aggravated assault on a law

170 enforcement officer, which the state attorney declined to

171 prosecute, and

172 WHEREAS, Ms. Ermini was an emergency room nurse in South

173 Florida for many years and had worked with law enforcement

174 officers, no evidence was ever produced that she had any animus

175 toward law enforcement officers, and it is still disputed that

176 Ms. Ermini’s weapon was discharged during the encounter, and

177 WHEREAS, Ms. Ermini remained hospitalized for about 30 days

178 and has never fully recovered from her injuries, and

179 WHEREAS, Ms. Ermini continues to suffer acute pain,

180 fatigue, and a limited range of motion due to the gunshot wound

181 to her upper arm, all of which impair her ability to accomplish

182 many of the activities of daily living, and she also suffers

183 from debilitating posttraumatic stress disorder, and

184 WHEREAS, Ms. Ermini was forced to sell her home because she

185 cannot afford in-home assistance, and

186 WHEREAS, Deputy Lisenbee and Deputy Hamer were terminated

187 by the LCSO shortly after the incident, the latter for “conduct

188 unbecoming,” and

189 WHEREAS, in November 2015, Ms. Ermini filed suit against

190 LCSO and the individual deputies involved in the call, and

191 WHEREAS, on January 12, 2018, after a 4-day trial, a jury

192 that included a retired law enforcement officer awarded $1

193 million in damages to Ms. Ermini for her pain and suffering, and

194 WHEREAS, after apportionment of 75 percent of the fault to

195 LCSO, a judgment was entered in Ms. Ermini’s favor for $750,000,

196 and

197 WHEREAS, ultimately, after numerous procedural attempts by

198 LCSO to overturn the judgment, the United States Court of

199 Appeals for the 11th Circuit affirmed the judgment of the United

200 States District Court in Ms. Ermini’s favor, and on or about

201 December 9, 2019, the Florida Sheriffs Risk Management Fund, on

202 behalf of its insured, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, paid the

203 statutory limit of $200,000 in damages under section 768.28,

204 Florida Statutes, and

205 WHEREAS, this claim bill is for recovery of the excess

206 judgment in the amount of $550,000, plus interest and taxable

207 trial costs and appellate costs awarded to Ms. Ermini in the

208 amount of $76,769.93, for a total claim of $626,769.93, NOW,

209 THEREFORE,

211 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

213 Section 1. The facts stated in the preamble to this act are

214 found and declared to be true.

215 Section 2. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is authorized

216 and directed to appropriate from funds not otherwise encumbered

217 and to draw a warrant in the sum of $626,769.93 payable to

218 Patricia Ermini as compensation for injuries and damages

219 sustained.

220 Section 3. The amount paid by the Lee County Sheriff’s

221 Office, pursuant to s. 768.28, Florida Statutes, and the amount

222 awarded under this act are intended to provide the sole

223 compensation for all present and future claims arising out of

224 the factual situation described in this act which resulted in

225 injuries and damages to Patricia Ermini. The total amount paid

226 for attorney fees relating to this claim may not exceed 25

227 percent of the total amount awarded under this act.

228 Section 4. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.