Brown: Officer’s tragic death highlights security challenges at Minnesota hospitals

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Christmas turned tragic in Wyoming, Minn., last week. A patient being held in the emergency room assaulted a security officer before fleeing the M Health Fairview Lakes Medical Center, according to a criminal complaint filed Dec. 29. The officer, Andrea Merrell, 43, later died from her injuries. In addition to her work at the hospital, Merrell served as a former reserve police officer and firefighter for White Bear Lake.

Police arrested a 35-year-old male suspect in the parking lot. Though details remain unclear, the hospital described the incident as an “elopement,” meaning that a vulnerable or impaired person left the hospital without clearance.

The episode reminds of the vital importance of security officers at Minnesota hospitals and the risks those officers take to protect patients, staff members and themselves. Each day, hospital staff seek to help people on the worst day of their lives, knowing that the situation can sometimes become worse.

Earlier this year, I explored some of these issues in a series about rural mental health. It takes on average 10 years for those suffering to seek help for mental health symptoms. Patients might not encounter treatment until they experience a crisis. That crisis probably occurs just before or during a hospital stay and often involves law enforcement.

Meantime, substance use disorder drives some to seek drugs and roils their minds as they detoxify. Alcohol generates a familiar set of social ills from widely available products. When things become unbearable, where do people go?

To be clear, modern treatments provide recovery and stability for those afflicted by these problems, but that does not remove the risk to patients, staff and family members during critical hours of crisis. That protection must come from people like Merrell, who died in service to the public good.

After hearing about the incident, I talked to Arren Schroyer. He is currently a community service officer for the Hibbing Police Department and will graduate from the peace officer program at Minnesota North College in Hibbing, Minn., this spring.

Schroyer is also a former security officer at the Fairview Range Medical Center in Hibbing. He received the same training that Merrell likely would have received at the Fairview Lakes Medical Center.

Like police officers, hospital security staff are trained to de-escalate conflict and protect the public. But they don’t have the same amount of training as police. They don’t carry guns, but Schroyer said he had a body camera to help document security interactions.

Security staff were also trained in the use of less-lethal equipment like Tasers and chemical irritant sprays to subdue dangerous individuals, though these are rarely used, and never on patients. Schroyer said that his 10 years of working private security were probably his biggest asset, because new hires are often inexperienced with physical and verbal confrontation.

He said it was always best to work in teams when patients were most combative. Most challenges occurred in the hospital’s psychiatric unit. Schroyer said his biggest lesson learned was to remain alert but also to listen to people in crisis.

“Be patient,” he said. “Try to understand why they’re having these problems.”

This isn’t the first time a Minnesota medical facility was hit by violent tragedy. In 2021, a medical assistant at an Allina Clinic in Buffalo, Minn. — a wife and mother of two — was killed by a gunman while four others were injured in an attack that also included three pipe bombs.

At that time, the Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board highlighted a Minnesota law protecting health care workers from violence. That problem has only worsened. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, health care and social workers now face violent assault more than any other private sector industry.

Schroyer said there are only two solutions he can see providing relief: training and staffing. Security officers need to have a clear understanding of how to handle difficult patients and members of the public and when to call for help.