Bill Piersing says he dialed 911 during a mental health crisis last November because he and his wife, Faith Piersing, were seeking help to deescalate the situation and transport their son to a hospital. Instead, Piersing told Bridge Michigan that the officers who arrived at their home appeared focused on arresting their son, leading to an altercation that escalated quickly.
Piersing’s account centers on his 23-year-old son, Bailey Piersing, who has bipolar type schizoaffective disorder. The reporting says Bailey Piersing did not respond well, with his parents saying he resisted arrest, bit an officer and was tased multiple times before he was taken to the hospital and then jail.
On Monday, Bailey Piersing was sentenced to 10 months in jail and 30 months of probation on a felony count of assaulting, resisting or obstructing a police officer causing injury, court records from Ottawa County show. The agreement reflected a plea deal that reduced the case from two felony counts. Court records also show he received credit for 148 days already served.
In response to questions about what was considered in the sentencing decision, Ottawa County Prosecuting Attorney Sarah F. Matwiejczyk said in a statement that “all aspects of this case, including the mental health of the defendant and the injuries to our law enforcement officers, were considered and presented to the court who made the ultimate determination of sentencing.” A spokesperson for the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office was not available to comment, and Bridge Michigan said its Freedom of Information Act request for the incident report remains pending.
The Piersings’ account is part of a broader, statewide debate over how Michigan responds when mental health crises turn volatile. The debate has drawn renewed attention after a more than 30-hour standoff in Ypsilanti that followed a 911 call reporting erratic behavior involving a sword and drew multiple law enforcement agencies, a SWAT team and tools including tear gas and flashbangs; Ruben Peeler was charged with multiple felonies for resisting arrest, the reporting says.
Advocates argue that solutions should focus on early intervention and better connections to treatment before emergencies escalate. Former Wayne County probate judge and state court administrator Milton Mack described the current system for getting mental health treatment as slow and late, comparing it to telling someone with cancer to “come back when you’re stage four.” Mack said lawmakers are considering bills to improve access to outpatient mental health treatment, and he argued that connecting law enforcement, crisis centers, emergency rooms, hospitals, schools, courts and community mental health systems is a day-to-day challenge that requires a recovery-oriented approach.
While lawmakers consider changes, experts say 911 dispatch still serves as the primary route when a person in crisis poses immediate danger to themselves or others. The reporting cites Michigan’s State 911 Committee’s latest annual report, saying nearly 12.5 million people contacted 911 in 2024 and that researchers estimate at least 10% of those calls involved behavioral health crises. It also says that in Detroit, police responded to more than 16,000 mental health calls in 2024—about 40 per day.
To streamline responses, some Michigan communities have developed alternatives to traditional police-only handling, including mental health co-response programs and crisis intervention teams. The reporting says Detroit has a mental health co-response unit that includes trained officers and behavioral specialists, and that Washtenaw and Oakland counties have designated local mental health crisis helplines operated by community mental health officials. It also says statewide, about 15% of sheriffs and police chiefs reported implementing some form of alternative response program for mental health calls in a spring 2024 Michigan Public Policy Survey by the University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State and Urban Policy.
Michigan lawmakers approved 2025 funding for a new state office to help agencies create or improve crisis intervention teams, according to the reporting. The CIT model includes 40-hour in-person training that covers mental health disorders, de-escalation tactics in crisis situations and working with people managing their own or loved ones’ mental health conditions, the article says. Kevin Fischer, executive director of the state’s CIT office and National Alliance on Mental Illness Michigan, said the office’s lack of formal regulations makes it hard to determine whether communities using the model are applying best practices, and he cited funding uncertainty, saying the office operates on a $500,000 budget and would not be funded past October if it is not included in the next state budget.
The article also describes why training alone may not prevent harm in every situation. It cites an example from October 2022 in Detroit where a crisis intervention-trained officer led a response that resulted in the shooting death of a man with schizophrenia, leading to a wrongful death lawsuit, and it recounts the Washtenaw County crisis negotiation team’s role in the multi-day response to Peeler’s standoff that included tear gas, a fire hose and a breach of a house to retrieve him. In Ottawa County, the reporting says a crisis intervention team has operated since 2021 and that clinicians respond with the sheriff’s office and Holland Police Department, though that co-response team is currently limited to weekdays.
Ottawa County Community Mental Health director Tim Piers said the county is working to expand the co-response program to 24/7 and hopes to have it fully operational by the end of the year. He said the team responds to between 1,200 and 1,500 behavioral health crisis calls per year during business hours and that, based on national averages, Ottawa County could have as many as 10,000 to 20,000 calls per year that could be served by behavioral health professionals. Piers described the expansion as critical so the community can rely on it every time.
In Grand Haven, where the Piersings plan to remain while their son’s legal troubles are sorted, their focus is on making mental health resources more accessible for future crises. Bill Piersing said the experience left him feeling that despite years of efforts—appointments and attempts to connect with appropriate treatment and resources—“all I know is the results of my efforts have been futile.” He said his family is working with court officials to see whether their son can serve the remainder of his sentence in psychiatric treatment rather than jail, and he said he will not call 911 on his son again.