The 17-year-old mentally ill boy shot to death by a San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy during a struggle on Tuesday was identified Friday, April 5, as Aaron James.
Also Friday, authorities shed little new light on how Aaron escaped the transfer from Desert Valley Hospital, where he had been treated three days before his death after he cut himself, to a mental health facility.
Aaron was being transported “by EMS,” said hospital spokeswoman Andrea Bell, referring to emergency medical services.
“Beyond this, we cannot share more information due to patient privacy laws. Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the family and all involved in this tragic event,” Bell wrote in an email.
Bell did not respond to additional written and phone messages seeking a more specific description of what EMS she was referencing — for instance a private ambulance company — as well as when, where and how the escape happened.
The Sheriff’s Department did not provide such information either on Friday. Sheriff Shannon Dicus said Wednesday that the hospital immediately notified the department when Aaron vanished.
At around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, the teen, a foster youth who lives in Hesperia, showed up at the home on Forest Hills Drive in Victorville where his sisters live in foster care, Dicus said. A person at the home called deputies to come detain Aaron, Dicus said, because he had caused trouble there before.
Aaron, who had a knife, locked himself in the bathroom, and deputies tried for about 30 minutes to get him to come out.
But when Aaron threatened to harm himself, deputies kicked down the door and tried to apprehend him, Dicus said. A video and still images of the encounter showed him holding a knife. Deputies pepper-sprayed him, and one deputy’s hand was sliced by the knife.
Aaron was pushed or fell into a bathtub, where he was shot. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Dicus called on the county to provide more mental health services for parents so they don’t have to rely on law enforcement when their children act out.
