Deputies on day 9 with commitment patient – Morganton

MORGANTON – Burke County sheriff’s deputies entered at 3:30 p.m. Thursday their ninth day of accompanying an involuntary commitment patient. Officers have been in Grace Hospital’s emergency room since March 17, waiting for a bed at a mental health facility to open up.

Burke County Sheriff John McDevitt said the nine-day stretch is the longest officers have had to wait with an involuntary commitment patient. And just last week, deputies waited six days with a child for a bed in a mental health facility.

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