Seconds ticked away as the man at the lectern tried to compose himself enough to speak. He stood in silence for 10 seconds. Then 15. Then 25.
Hall fell silent again. He had written down what he planned to tell lawmakers that day during a Maryland Senate committee hearing in Annapolis, but tears kept getting in the way of his words.
As he stood there, unable to talk, his son reached over and rubbed his shoulder.
It was a simple gesture. It was also a powerful one, given why the family was there that day. They had come close — too close — to losing Rashawn in October when the 31-year-old with Down syndrome slipped away from his caregiver at a Maryland hotel and boarded a Metro bus. Rashawn, who doesn’t speak many words and wouldn’t have been able to ask for help, was missing for six days before he was found in a room down a locked corridor at a Metro station.
As soon as Hall and his wife learned that Rashawn was missing, they expected authorities to put out a public alert that would let people know he was vulnerable and they should look out for him. But that didn’t happen — not in the hours after he went missing and not in the days that followed.
I shared with you in an earlier column how the couple learned in those days that a critical gap existed in the state’s emergency alert system, one that left no place for their son. They were told Rashawn was too old for an Amber Alert, which is used for child abductions, and too young for a Silver Alert, which Maryland State Police regulations listed as for adults 60 and older with cognitive impairments.
When I talked with the couple after Rashawn was found, they were determined to bring attention to that gap and expressed hope that officials would expand the state’s alert system. The family may now see that happen. Hall was at that Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee hearing at the end of last month to testify in support of a bill that would add to the state’s system a Purple Alert, which would cover individuals with cognitive impairments, intellectual or developmental disabilities and brain injuries.
Maryland state Del. Michele Guyton (D-Baltimore County) and Maryland state Sen. Arthur Ellis (D-Charles) sponsored the bills that call for the added alert program. Some states, including Florida, Texas, California, Georgia and New Jersey, have already approved Purple Alert programs, a news release from Guyton’s office noted. It also noted that a national measure did not pass.
“Our US Congress failed to protect these citizens and so it is time for the state of Maryland to protect our own,” Guyton said in that release.
Ellis said that Maryland State Police have expanded their Silver Alert program to remove the age requirement, but that he would still like to see the bill move forward “so it is set in law and not just a regulation.”
The National Down Syndrome Society also expressed support for the legislation: “The Purple Alert is crucial to making sure what happened to Rashawn in October of last year never happens to another person with a disability in Maryland again,” the organization said in a statement. “We applaud Rashawn’s family for their advocacy and dedication to making sure the gaps in the system experienced by Rashawn, are never experienced by anyone else.”
The bills still have votes to get through before becoming law, but Hall told me he is excited to see that lawmakers are taking notice of the issue and trying to make change.
“The Purple Alert could have been the voice he needed,” Hall said of his son. “And it could be the voice for the next family who goes through this situation.”
The couple believes that if an alert was sent out immediately after Rashawn went missing, he would have been home that night. Hall said Rashawn followed people off the bus and rode a Metro train for hours, coming in contact with many members of the public and Metro employees. He and his wife said they pleaded with Montgomery County police to make an exception and send out an alert, but they were told nothing could be done.
The family meanwhile searched day and night for Rashawn, and by Day Six, they started to lose hope of finding him alive. They began looking in wooded areas and garbage bins for a body.
Hall said when his son was found, he was severely dehydrated, hungry and covered in filth. The family found evidence of an insect infestation on his head.
“Every time I talk about it, I try to keep it together, but I still get emotional just thinking about what could have happened,” Hall told me. “At one point, after we had found him, I was still jumping up in the middle of night, thinking I had to rush out and go look for him.”
He said the family now has to keep a night light or the TV on at night for Rashawn because he doesn’t like the dark. Christina Hall said they can’t fully know how the experience affected him because he isn’t able to tell them how he is feeling or if something is bothering him. They just have to watch him closely for cues — and right now, they are keeping him close. They removed him from the care of the agency that was supposed to be watching him that day he went missing.
Christina Hall said she supports the Maryland legislation but also believes a standard federal alert system is needed. No matter what state a person drives to, when an Amber, Silver or Purple alert is issued, people should know what to look for, she said.
She is right, of course. When the stakes are that high and time that crucial, a person shouldn’t have to wonder what the regulations are for alerts in their region. Likewise, families shouldn’t have to learn in the middle of a crisis that their person doesn’t qualify for a public alert. It shouldn’t take a death for us to recognize that. Rashawn’s near-death experience was chilling enough.
When Hall regained his composure enough to testify, he detailed how several entities failed his family during those days his son was missing. He then spoke about the one he could count on — the public.
“The public would definitely show up and show out,” he said through tears. “That was proven when all the search parties were formed to find my son. Please, please pass this bill, so no other family will have to endure the pain and anguish that we went through.”
