PHOENIX – One year after a man with mental health issues was found dead from heat exposure and dehydration on a 116-degree day in Phoenix, his family is filing a wrongful death lawsuit against multiple parties, including Maricopa County.

FOX 10 has been collecting documentation on this story since last summer.

The backstory:

Lafayette Palmes, 58, suffered from mental health issues and was under the guardianship of the county. The circumstances leading up to and surrounding his death prompted his family to file this lawsuit just last week, hoping to hold someone accountable.

“We are his voice. He didn’t have a voice,” said LaQuana Glover, Lafayette’s niece.

Palmes’ family described him as intelligent, kind and family-focused.

“We grew up as kind of like brother and sister because my grandma raised me. I remember him before he was diagnosed. He was very smart, and he was a straight-A student,” Glover said.

Palmes struggled with mental health as a child and was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his 40s. His family said he was under the care of his mother until she passed away in 2020.

His sister then brought him to Arizona from out of state but became unable to care for him.

Dig deeper:

Court documents state he was eventually placed under permanent guardianship of the Maricopa County Public Fiduciary and ordered to receive 24-hour care “to ensure his safety and adherence to treatment.”

When Palmes’ cousin, Breauna Davis, learned of his situation, she tried to intervene.

“When we got word that he was in Arizona, I reached out to Arizona trying to inquire about the process of getting him back home with family,” Davis said.

Before that reunion could happen, Palmes’ family received devastating news.

“Lafayette has passed away. They didn’t give any information, didn’t say how or what, we just got the call Lafayette had passed away,” Davis said.

Palmes’ family filed a lawsuit last week against multiple parties, including the Chandler assisted living facility listed as his residence. According to the lawsuit, he had only recently been moved to that facility after a prior facility failed to provide his schizophrenia medication.

Timeline:

Resilient Health, Palmes’ behavioral health medical team, reached out to the county to get Palmes an appointment at one of its clinics.

The lawsuit claims Resilient Health arranged for a transportation company to pick up Palmes from his care facility and drop him off at the appointment.

The clinic claims he never made it inside on July 3.

The next day, the lawsuit shows a message was sent by the care facility to the county noting Palmes did not return, but that message was not seen until July 8. Chandler police received a 911 call from a caregiver on July 9, reporting Palmes missing.

However, Palmes had already been found on July 6 by Phoenix police, dead in an alley. The medical examiner’s report stated he died from “dehydration” and “heat exposure,” noting the pavement was 157 degrees with his body temperature at nearly 110 degrees.

“His face was burned from lying on the asphalt. His whole body was burned. So no telling how long he laid out there in the heat. That’s just a very, very sad way to go,” Davis said.

A number listed for the owner of the Chandler assisted living facility went to a disconnected message.

What’s next:

Palmes’ family is now demanding a trial by jury as they search for justice. “It’s kind of mind boggling and it bothers me that they’re just like oh well he died in an alley, whatever, and they just went on like he was nobody; he was somebody,” Glover said.

Maricopa County officials said they have no comment on the lawsuit. FOX 10 reached out to Resilient Health and is awaiting a response.

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