Children and staff who were left traumatised after an unannounced “shooter drill” at a psychiatric hospital will share a $13m (£10m) settlement.
The incident happened in 2022 when a member of staff used a speaker system to warn that two armed men were inside the Hawthorn Centre in Detroit and that shots had been fired.
Lawyer Robin Wagner said it was just a drill – and staff and children had not been warned.
Police also did not know anything about the plan with dozens of officers turning up to the children’s psychiatric unit with full body armour and high-powered weapons.
“It was horrifying,” she told the Detroit Court of Claims.
“Everyone went into, ‘Oh my God. This is the worst day of my life’.
“People were hiding under their desks. They were barricading the doors, trying to figure out how to protect the children.”
Fifty children at the hospital each will receive around $60,000 (£46,000).
And around 90 members of staff will receive an average of more than $50,000 (£38,000), depending on their score on a trauma test.
Read more from Sky News:
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs faces extra sex assault allegations
Nine monkeys die in two days at zoo
World Conker Championships investigates cheating
Twenty-four others will get smaller amounts.
“The state recognised that this was really a bad decision and harmed a lot of people,” Ms Wagner added.
Following the final decision on Tuesday to agree the settlement, a spokesperson for the state Department of Health and Human Services said: “We regret that our patients, staff and community were negatively affected by the unfortunate incident in December 2022.”
Ms Wagner said the drill was organised by the Hawthorn Centre’s safety director, who still works for the state.
The hospital has since been closed for reasons unrelated to what happened.
