It’s surprising enough that the number of arrests of people over 65 grew by nearly 30% between 2000 and 2020 — even more so given that arrests overall decreased by almost 40%.
The experiences of families like the Navejas’ in El Paso, Texas, highlight one disturbing consequence of this: older people with diseases like dementia or Alzheimer’s face additional risks in interactions with law enforcement. Armando Navejas, a 70-year-old with dementia and Parkinson’s, had started wandering away from home more often. An El Paso police officer, responding to a call from Navejas’ wife one night, deemed an agitated Navejas to be threatening him and used a stun gun — Navejas was taken to the emergency room with facial fractures and bleeding around his brain.
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Debbie Navejas Aguilar with her father Armando Navejas in El Paso on Thanksgiving in 2020.
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Federal health experts estimate that from 2010 to 2020, over 12,000 people 65 and older ended up in emergency rooms for injuries caused by police or private security. Some people with dementia — like 75-year-old Amelia Baca in New Mexico — have been killed when they were unable to understand or follow police instructions. Ralph Ennis, a 77-year-old with dementia, was stopped for erratic driving in Virginia; he ended up hospitalized with a massive brain bleed after deputies, who claimed he wasn’t following orders, slammed his head on his truck and the pavement.
A Front Royal police officer who watched Ennis’ arrest was shaken by what he’d just seen. “That was fucking unjust and fucking un-fucking-called for,” he’s heard saying in his body camera video. “Jesus Christ.”
Although many officers receive some training on dealing with people in mental health crisis, they may not be adequately trained on interacting with people with brain diseases like Alzheimer’s. This gap can have dangerous consequences as social resources for the elderly dwindle. “It’s been a nightmare,” Armando Navejas’ daughter says. “If I was there, I could have spoken for him, or been there for my mom… This did not have to happen.”
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