A sign outside of the Methodist Dallas Medical Center. Photo by Rachel Stone.
Proposed state legislation that would make it a felony with stiffened penalties for a parolee to cut off a court-mandated ankle monitor was spurred by the October shooting at Oak Cliff’s Methodist Dallas Medical Center, which killed nurse Katie Annette Flowers and social worker Jacqueline Ama Pokuaa.
The bill, presented Monday, would also require notification to law enforcement and other officials when a parolee is allowed to visit a hospital. It would prohibit anyone on parole from visiting a hospital for any purpose other than emergency care unless given permission from a parole officer. If permission is granted, the bill stipulates a hospital would not face liability if the person commits a violent act. The parole officer will be responsible for understanding and complying with the law.
The accused Oak Cliff gunman, Nestor Hernandez, was a parolee with an ankle monitor who had permission to be at the hospital for the birth of his child, officials said.
Methodist Health System’s police chief said at the time his force had no warning Hernandez would be at the hospital.
House Bill 3547 is part of a legislative package known as the Pokuaa-Flowers Act, named after the Methodist Dallas workers.
Dallas Democratic state Rep. Rafael Anchía, who presented the bills, said in a public statement that officials tried to analyze “the last best chances for us to have avoided this tragedy.”
He called the Methodist murders a systematic failure.
“Law enforcement arrested, law enforcement jailed him,” Anchía said at Monday’s press conference. “It was the rest of the system that really failed.”
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia, who attended Monday’s press conference at Dallas Police Department headquarters, praised the measure.
“What’s in place now is not working and has cost lives,” Garcia said. “This bill is a start to holding our most violent offenders accountable for their actions, and most importantly, a start at saving lives from violent acts.”
The package of bills also would increase criminal penalties for attacking some hospital personnel.
President of the Dallas Fort Worth Hospital Council Steve Love said he appreciated the proposed legislation. He also cited a report by the American Hospital Association that says 68% of nurses experience verbal abuse and in some cases physical violence.
In November, because it involved an officer shooting, police released heavily edited video footage of the murders at Methodist, showing that Hernandez, who was visiting a woman who was giving birth, pulled a gun from his waistband and bashed the patient in the head multiple times. The newborn was in the room and was unharmed. He shot Pokuaa just for entering the patient’s room. He shot Flowers when she came to the aid of her coworker and the patient.
Methodist Medical System Sergeant Robert Rangel witnessed the second shooting and shot and killed Hernandez.
The act would go into effect September 1, 2023.
