Yesica López was walking in Little Havana one afternoon when she came upon an abandoned building that was set to be demolished. Her reaction to the building’s impending demolition led her to getting picked up by police and detained in a mental health facility for nine days against her will, she says.
The building reminded her of her childhood in Colombia, and a flood of memories from her homeland rushed through her mind. She felt uneasy and approached a Miami police officer asking why the building was going to be destroyed.
The now 33-year-old was experiencing a mental health episode when this happened in April 2022 and likely needed temporary outpatient care, said her Miami attorney, Ricardo Martinez-Cid. She was going through a messy divorce that included domestic violence accusations, leaving her underweight and sleep deprived. With no family close by except for her two young children, she needed support, Martinez-Cid said…