WAHNETA — Jessica Hernandez, 14, was off from school for Veteran’s Day, sitting at her kitchen table on a rainy afternoon in Wahneta when she heard a man yelling “Stop! Stop! Stop!” and then heard “three or four” gunshots.
When Hernandez looked out the window, she saw a woman now identified as 24-year-old Jessiram Hweih Rivera lying on the ground and Polk County Sheriff Sgt. Sean Speakman running to his car to retrieve a medical aid kit. Deputies Hannah Ferguson and Daniel Villagran arrived as Speakman was running back down the small dirt driveway off of Rifle Range Road to try to save the woman he had just shot.
Hernandez picked up her cellphone and videotaped a few seconds of Ferguson doing chest compressions on Rivera as Villagran sat ready to give mouth to mouth and Speakman called for paramedics and an ambulance. A shovel is seen lying at Rivera’s feet.
Stories in series: Mental health in Polk County and Florida: Read every story in our series
In just a few moments that afternoon, everything Speakman was trained to do to help mentally ill people throughout his 17-year law enforcement career collided with a woman whose family says — and documents show — has sought out, but also walked away from, help for a “history of bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, and drug abuse” following the death of her father in 2011. She also had at least one suicide attempt.
While Rivera’s family and some in the public arena are demanding to know why Speakman didn’t use his taser or why he shot her, law enforcement experts are saying Speakman did what he was trained to do — which includes protecting himself.
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