SEATTLE — A developmentally disabled man was living in a rat infested home with no heat and no running water. Despite desperate calls for help, the state never stepped in. Thursday, that failure led to an $8 million settlement, one of the largest in state history.
Vernon Gray grew up in the Central District. His family moved there in 1962, when he was 7 years old. Vernon attended a school for developmentally delayed adolescents but never graduated. As he grew up, he relied on his parents. But by 2000, both had passed away. While they left some money for Vernon, he had no concept of how to pay bills. He lost power and running water. And eventually his home was overrun with rats.
That rat infestation is detailed in calls to Adult Protective Services. In 2009, a King County health worker called APS, reporting a smell that made her gag and step back. She believed rats were living in a maze underneath the lawn.Vernon Gray is nearly blind, developmentally disabled and unable to care for himself. Today, the state agreed to pay $8M for failing him. The unanswered calls for help on #KOMONews at 6p pic.twitter.com/rMqbjXWlNJ— Molly Shen (@MollyShenKOMO) May 16, 2019
Vernon's next door neighbor also made a graphic report describing 500 rats and a decaying home. According to court documents, the neighbor testified that she “begged Adult Protective Services to help Vernon ... that APS was Vernon’s only hope.”
"Adult Protective Services was receiving warnings from loving, caring people in the community. Not just neighbors but professionals," said David Moody, Vernon's attorney. "But APS wouldn't do anything about it. They wouldn't go to the home. They wouldn't talk to Vernon. A simple assessment would have told APS that Vernon was vulnerable and needed services. You can't meet Vernon for more than a few seconds and not come away with a sense that this man needs help."
Records show at least four warnings came over the course of eight years. But each time, the case closed with no action. Twice, Vernon wasn't found to be a vulnerable adult, even though social workers never met him face to face.
"One time DSHS determines that the home is unsafe so they can't meet Vernon there," Moody said. "So they're going to go ahead and close the case because it's unsafe for the DSHS workers to go to the home. That's the home they left Vernon in."
David Moody, attorney, speaks about Vernon's living conditions in his Central District home. (KOMO video)
Eventually, Vernon lost his home because of unpaid taxes. Now on the streets, neighbors continued to care for Vernon and seek out help.
"Because I would talk to him, he started coming to my street and standing in front," said neighbor Gracie Williams. "We just took care of him. We did the best we could."
But Vernon needed more than neighbors could provide. He started coming to Katy's Corner Cafe multiple times a day, asking for food.
"He was always really sweet and would ask very casually if we had any leftovers," said Katy Leighton, the cafe owner. "And yes. Of course. Of course, all the time."
Around this time, Inye Wokoma, a distant relative of Vernon's made a video, highlighting how economic development was hurting neighborhoods like the Central District. It shows Vernon, pushing a shopping cart in ragged clothes. In the video, Vernon talks about family. He has a clear sense of who various people are, but the viewer knows Vernon isn't well.
"We watched it get worse," Leighton said. "It was getting really scary because we all try to do what we can. And I mean, he had safe houses where he could go and spots that he could sleep and no one would hurt him. And people brought him coats and blankets and he had food. He had all of those things, but it wasn't enough. And it was getting scary," she said. "We thought he was going to be dead."
Katy Leighton, a cafe owner in the Central District, talks about seeing and helping Vernon. (KOMO video)
Vernon hit rock bottom in 2017, and after wandering into traffic multiple times, half naked, Seattle Police took him to Harborview. A doctor at noted that Vernon was "clearly gravely disabled." He also described him as developmentally delayed and essentially blind. Medical staff treated him for a "massive infestation with insects."
"The staff at Harborview saved Vernon by moving to establish a guardianship for Vernon," Moody said. "This is what DSHS should have done eight years prior."
"You'll see him mumble when he gets a little bit anxious. That was all he did all the time," guardian Channa Copeland said of when she first met Vernon. "He wasn't able to use a toilet at that point. He wasn't able to do anything like that. He had to be completely retrained."
Thursday, the court approved the $8 million settlement agreement between the Department of Social and Health Services, which oversees Adult Protective Services, and Vernon Gray. And DSHS apologized for what happened.
"We're sorry," said spokesman Chris Wright. "This is a tragic situation that happened. The agency dropped the ball here. We think the whole system dropped the ball. Again, we're sorry this happened and hope this leads to an improved quality of life for him."
Molly Shen | State pays $8M in landmark settlement after failing to help blind, disabled man
Vernon is now living in an adult family home, but he wants to return to the Central District, his only true connection. Copeland hopes to help him purchase a home - perhaps his childhood home - and establish the daily care he needs. "It's important," she said. "It's all he's ever asked about, is his house and coming home."
On a recent visit to Katy's Corner Cafe, Vernon asked about neighbors, recalling who drove a truck, who had a white fence and who walked with a cane.
"He doesn't even know the magnitude of this," Leighton said of the settlement. "He just, this is where he belongs, and that's how the story should end."
No changes have been made at DSHS or APS as a direct result of Vernon's case. But Wright pointed to recent improvements, including a new team in King County that brings APS, law enforcement and health care workers together on complex cases involving vulnerable adults. He also said the legislature approved new funding in the last session to hire at least 100 new investigators statewide.
Wright also stressed that despite this case, people should report it if they feel someone is being abused, neglected or exploited. The state's 24/7 hotline is 866-END-HARM.
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State pays $8M in landmark settlement after failing to help blind, disabled man
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