Houston mom says 'something needs to be done about Harris County jail' after son is blinded

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A Houston mother said her family contacted the Houston Police Department's mental health division requesting help transporting her schizophrenic and suicidal adult son to the hospital. Instead, he was taken to jail, where she said he was beaten so severely he may have lost vision.

On June 12, law enforcement was contacted to transport Yamika Ba's son, 29-year-old Phillip Cherry, to the hospital. It was a difficult decision but one she was comfortable with. She had contacted mental health officers for help when the family lived in Austin.

"They talked to me and him with respect. They took him to the hospital like they were supposed to," she said.

Cherry, diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 13, had been refusing medication and hearing voices. Ba said she knew something was wrong when he began sending "threats" to call government agencies like the IRS and CPS on the family. The final straw was when he threatened suicide over a text message.

Cherry's family wanted to get him to the hospital to restart his medication and stabilize him. But they couldn't get him there on their own.

"He's a big guy," Ba explained. "He's about 6 feet 1 inch or 6 feet 2 inches, and he weighs 340 (pounds), maybe."

A Houston police public information officer said two patrol officers were initially dispatched to the apartment for a "check welfare call." When they arrived, they spoke with family members and Cherry. According to the public information officer, officers were told Cherry was damaging the apartment and may be "violent."

The officers asked Cherry to speak with a remote psychiatric technician through an iPad. According to the department, he declined. Officers then reportedly contacted someone with the department's mental health division requesting advice. They were told they could not transport Cherry to the hospital unless he consented. Though he was agitated, he did not appear to be experiencing a mental health crisis at that moment - meaning he was not eligible for an emergency detention order.

"I was like, 'You have to go, please go,'" Ba explained. "He was on the floor crying, begging not to go."

Ba said officers attempted to convince Cherry to leave the apartment - something she felt would only make matters worse. Ba said she offered to show officers the text threatening suicide but was dismissed.

In a last-ditch attempt to have officers transport her son to the hospital, Ba told them her son was on parole for burglary and hadn't been checking in with his parole officer - a violation. It's something the department's public information officer maintains they discovered on their own.

According to the department's public information officer, the two officers on the scene called in a third officer for backup. They told Cherry he was under arrest for violating parole. He then reportedly hit a female officer and grabbed her head.

He was charged with assaulting a peace officer and is being held on a $15,000 bond for the crime. However, he is not eligible to bond out because of his parole violation and is on a parole hold.

Ba said she spoke with her son on June 12 and 13. Then, she did not hear from him until June 27. In a frantic one-minute phone call, he told her they needed to speak quickly.

"He was like, 'I'm blind. I need you to get my medical records and try to find out what happened to me. Please try to find out what happened to me,'" she said.

Cherry said his retinas had detached. Ba's received additional calls since stating he has been attacked.

She said she also received a call from another inmate's mother, "Telling me that her son was down with my son and that 'He really needed my help and he needed me to get his medical records because he was blind.'"

According to a Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesperson, Cherry was involved in an altercation with another inmate on June 18. He was reportedly the aggressor. On June 19, he was attacked by other inmates.

The public information officer said he is being kept separately from the inmates involved in the altercations.

The public information officer could not confirm whether Cherry was hospitalized or injured, citing medical privacy.

Ba said she has been unable to get information on her son's condition.

"I want people to know that unless something is done about Harris County Jail, that more people will die than the six that have died this year," Ba said.

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