Bartholomew County Sheriff Matthew A. Myers has suspended and demoted three deputies following an internal investigation into a failure to properly serve an emergency detention order on an individual having mental health difficulties who was later shot to death in a Home Avenue residence in Columbus.
Lt. Gary Knoef, Sgt. Jason Lancaster and Sgt. Jason Williams were suspended 15 days without pay for their roles in the failure to detain Derek Henderson, 38, 1803 Home Ave., on Jan. 3 after an emergency detention order was issued from Bartholomew Superior Court 1.
Henderson was shot to death at a home at 2025 Home Ave. shortly before 1 a.m. Jan. 4 after the homeowner there alleged Henderson confronted him inside his home with a baseball bat.
The deputies were demoted from their current rank, Myers said. Lt. Gary Knoef will return to his position as a merit sergeant. Deputies Lancaster and Williams will return to positions as merit patrolmen, a press release from the sheriff’s department said.
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The demotions and suspensions came the same day as Henderson’s funeral at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, which had military honors as Henderson served with the U.S. Air Force in Afghanistan after 9/11, enlisting when he was age 18, according to his family.
The emergency detention order issued Jan. 3 by the court directed “any police officer” to detain Henderson for emergency treatment as necessary for his own health and safety, as well as the health and safety of others.
An internal investigation revealed that visual and verbal contact was made with Derek Henderson in Henderson’s home on Jan. 3, but he refused to leave his home or allow the deputies to enter. The deputies eventually left the scene without detaining Henderson and made no further attempt to serve the emergency detention order, according to Myers.
While deputies are trained to avoid escalating matters involving a mental health order, they had other options at their disposal, Myers said. The deputies should not have left the scene until Henderson was detained as directed by the emergency detention order, the sheriff said.
An investigation is continuing into the shooting death, according to the Bartholomew County Death Investigation Team.
Henderson was married to Carrie (Monroe) Henderson, the niece of former Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge Chris Monroe. He said Derek Henderson’s family was not initially aware that he was having mental health difficulties on Jan. 3 as Carrie and the couple’s daughter had moved out of the 1803 Home Ave. residence a few nights earlier. The couple has a 1-year-old daughter and Derek Henderson had another daughter who lives in California from a previous relationship.
The events leading to Derek Henderson’s death actually began as early as Jan. 2, when Monroe said that Derek went to an appointment with a therapist at Camp Atterbury “that did not go well.”
He was agitated then, Monroe said, although his wife was not aware of it until the Veterans Administration contacted her seeking permission to file for the emergency detention order. Carrie Henderson had power of attorney for her husband for decision making and access for medical issues, Monroe said.
A video doorbell at the Henderson home, which is owned by Carrie Henderson’s father, revealed details of police officer visits to speak with Derek Henderson, video that his wife was able to view on her cell phone, Monroe said.
The family believes the VA initially contacted the Columbus Police Department directly about the detention order, but proper procedure would dictate that the agency to serve the order is the sheriff’s department, Monroe said. He said it is common for CPD to provide backup to the sheriff’s department in these types of situations.
Monroe said the internal investigation’s statement about “other options” could have referred to having Derek Henderson’s wife or father-in-law come to the 1803 Home Ave. residence as both had keys to the home and could have given access to officers.
He had received treatment and medication for post traumatic stress disorder in California two to three years ago before moving to Columbus, Monroe said.
“We had some challenges getting a proper diagnosis and getting proper treatment,” Monroe said, saying sometimes it does take time to figure out the treatment plan and medication plan for this type of diagnosis.
In the video viewed by the family, Derek Henderson is clearly agitated, Monroe said.
As far as the family knows, there had been only one other incident in which Derek Henderson had become as agitated as was seen in the video, with that incident happening in California, Monroe said.
Family members believe the PTSD may have stemmed from Derek Henderson being present in a Humvee in Afghanistan when another nearby Humvee struck an improvised explosive device, killing his friends in front of him.
Monroe said the doorbell videos show police officers attempting to speak with Derek Henderson, the first time in late morning on Jan. 3, in which they did not reach him, and a second time in mid-afternoon with Derek on the front porch becoming agitated and then calm as the officers speak with him.
In the early morning hours of Jan. 4, the video shows Derek Henderson had a baseball bat and is seen leaving the 1803 Home Ave. residence.
Family members still don’t know if the social media reports that he broke car windows along Home Avenue with the bat prior to the shooting are accurate, Monroe said. However, there were windows broken out, and Derek Henderson was carrying a bat along Home Avenue, so the assumption that Derek Henderson did something is there, Monroe said.
There is no video of what happened at 2025 Home Ave., where John Noonan, 55, Columbus, who is also a veteran, was identified as the homeowner who shot Derek Henderson three times, with gunshots to the head, chest and abdomen, inside the home, according to investigators.
Monroe said to the best of the family’s understanding, there was a confrontation between Derek Henderson and Noonan outside Noonan’s home prior to the shooting.
Derek Henderson is believed to have followed Noonan into the residence and the shooting occurred inside Noonan’s home, Monroe said.
“There was no indication of forced entry,” Monroe said. “We’re not accusing the gentleman (homeowner) of doing anything wrong,” he said.
Monroe said Derek Henderson was a very physical person who loved personal training, working at Tipton Lakes Athletic Club in Columbus, where he liked to help people get in shape.
Derek Henderson had played high school football and later college football at Delaware Valley University in Pennsylvania. He also played semi-pro arena football for the Mississippi Mudcats in 2007.
Monroe will remember Derek Henderson as someone who had a big smile, a deep laugh and an individual who was a “big hugger.”
Monroe said it wasn’t clear whether Derek Hendson had been correctly diagnosed with PTSD and possibly bipolar disorder, and family members are unsure whether he had been medicated properly for his mental health issues.
As a former judge, Monroe said many times in mental health commitments, an individual will resist the medical treatment, particularly if they are in a manic stage when they feel competent and able to handle things.
“That’s the real challenge,” Monroe said of obtaining treatment for those having mental health difficulties who are resisting efforts to help them.
