A Butts County man with mental disabilities was found alone in Atlanta on Wednesday after missing for nearly a week following his discharge from a mental health facility, officials said.
Mario Scott, 40, of Jackson, went missing Jan. 27 after a van from Riverwoods Behavioral Health, the Clayton County mental health facility where he had spent the previous week, transported him to a homeless shelter, Channel 2 Action News reported. The Riverwoods van dropped him off before the shelter was open and he never checked in.
Monique Norris, a fellow Jackson resident, drove to Atlanta and found Scott outside of a gas station on Peters Street, not far from the homeless shelter where he was left. She shared the moment in a Facebook Live video Wednesday afternoon.
“I found Mario,” Norris said in the video. “I think I just need to bring him back to Jackson.”
Scott was supposed to be taken home from Riverwoods, but his mother is in the hospital with COVID-19, according to Butts County Sheriff Gary Long. Instead of contacting his family, Riverwoods allowed Scott to be dropped off at the homeless shelter near downtown Atlanta, Channel 2 reported. Scott ended up spending a week by himself in the downtown area, at a time when nightly low temperatures routinely dipped below freezing.
“The guy is absolutely harmless. The guy is loved in our community,” Long said. “We haven’t had a day since he’s been missing that the weather’s not freezing.”
Once employees at Riverwoods recognized the error, they called 911 and reported Scott as missing to the Jackson Police Department. However, it was the Butts sheriff’s office that handled Scott’s transportation to Riverwoods in the first place.
“I would have went personally and got Mario and brought him back,” Long said.
Scott’s sister-in-law, Tawanda Scott, said she had given Riverwoods an emergency contact number. She also said the family had dropped off clothes for Scott at the facility, but they never heard anything from Riverwoods.
At one point while he was lost, Scott was treated at Grady Memorial Hospital for hypothermia, but he was released again, according to Long. A Mattie’s Call was issued for Scott on Jan. 31 and multiple investigators with the Butts sheriff’s office began searching for him, according to Channel 2.
On Wednesday, Long posted on Facebook that Norris had found Scott and was bringing him home to his family.
“I am completely shocked that a treatment center for the mentally disabled would force a patient into a bus, drive them to Atlanta and drop them off on the streets when they have family that is willing to pick them up,” Long wrote in his post.
Long said he believes the Riverwoods facility should be investigated for criminal conduct by the Clayton County district attorney’s office.
In a statement to Channel 2, the Riverwoods Behavioral Health System did not take responsibility for Scott’s discharge.
“While we cannot provide specific information due to medical privacy laws, we can tell you that we worked with local law enforcement officials to ensure the safe discharge of this patient in accordance with industry practice and the patient’s wishes. We stand behind the treatment that our clinicians provided to this patient during his 10-day stay with us and the efforts our staff took to arrange for his safe discharge,” Riverwoods CEO Angela Harris said.
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