Suicidal Teen Given Bad Advice
Saturday, July 29, 2000
Miami Herald
BY CAROL MARBIN-MILLER
cmarbin@herald.com
A few days before Anthony Dumas was found hanging from a bunk bed
at the Lippman Family Center shelter, a friend told Dumas he could
take it easy if he got committed to a nearby hospital, according to
police reports.
The other boy had been involuntarily committed to the psychiatric
ward of Florida Medical Center after he threatened to hurt himself.
You ``could eat what you want . . . and do what you want,'' the
boy allegedly told Dumas. ``I think I'll go,'' Dumas, 15, was
overheard replying.
But if Dumas' intention was only to scare shelter staff into
committing him to Florida Medical, it was a horrible miscalculation.
Dumas remains in a coma, facing permanent brain damage at Broward
General Medical Center.
Dumas' last days, before he was found hanging, are told in
chilling detail in a 13-paged report from Oakland Park police.
Dumas emerges in the report as a deeply troubled young man who
told virtually everyone he knew at the shelter that he wished to end
his life. It is unknown whether the other kids reported the threats
to staff.
Three staff members on duty June 12 apparently first thought
Dumas was joking when they saw him hanging, the report states.
``This is not funny. Stop playing,'' staff member Sandra Trotter
reportedly shouted at the boy. Neither Trotter nor two other staff
members cut the boy from his belt before police arrived.
Police found a note. ``All Go To Hell,'' it said.
Dumas' parents insist their son would not have attempted to end
his life, said David Fuchs, the family's attorney.
``Something is very wrong here,'' Fuchs said. ``The people who
know him best are his family, and they say this is not him.''
Dumas was ordered to stay at the shelter May 23 after getting
into a shoving match with his mother.
According to the report, Dumas became friendly with a 14-year-old
boy he met weeks earlier at the shelter. The boy had been
involuntarily committed to Florida Medical after threatening to hurt
himself, but had returned to Lippman.
The boy ``said that he told Anthony about this experience (at the
mental ward), and afterward Anthony expressed interest in going . .
. himself.'' The boy ``said that he tried to dissuade Anthony from
wanting to go there, but was unsure if he succeeded,'' according to
the report.
A girl at the shelter told police she overheard the 14-year-old
``telling Anthony Dumas that the Florida Medical Center was
`straight.'
Dumas played basketball with the 14-year-old a few hours before
Dumas was found hanging. ``Guess what I'm going to do tonight?,'' he
allegedly said. ``I'm going to kill myself. I just want to be
dead,'' the 14-year-old reportedly told police.
Dumas reportedly grabbed a carving knife and ran it across his
wrist. The knife was dull, however, and Dumas was unable to do any
real damage.
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