Detained By the Police During an Armed Standoff
My question involves criminal law for the state of: Florida
My boyfriend was threatening suicide and the police were called. I was in a public place and my boyfriend left to go to our home. The police responded to my location and I repeatedly told them he was threatening suicide for attention - he had ongoing problems with depression and the police were well aware of this (we live in a small town). The police would not let me leave the establishment I was at for over three hours. During this time my boyfriend was shot by the police then shot himself and died. At one point, the police informed me "they got him, there was gunfire and my boyfriend was on his way to a hospital". This was less than 45 minutes after the police detained me - told me I could not leave. I asked if I could leave to go to the hospital because the police would not give me any information on his condition. I was told I could not leave and was not permitted to leave for almost three more hours (during this time I was not given any information on my boyfriends condition). When I was finally permitted to leave, I was also told not to go to my house until an officer called me and said it was ok to go there so I went to the hospital where I was told "the police will have to give you information on his condition". I ended up going home and approx 5 hrs after my boyfriend died, I was finally told he had died. I have three questions. First, can the police hold me in public against my will for hours when I was not involved in any crime? Second, I don't understand why the police did not take me to our house for me to try to defuse the situation before it got out of hand. I feel like this is a lack of training on the police officers part. Third, I was told by the police department on many different occasions that someone would sit down and tell me what happened that night after they are done with their investigation. Their investigation was over less than 3 weeks after the incident, the officer involved in the shooting is back on duty out on the street and now the police say they cant discuss it because one of their officers were involved. The last time I tried to contact the police department and their Victim's Advocate (who I had previous contact with before) they would not return my calls. Does this sound like the police are covering something up and were they within the law to keep me from leaving a public place for hours? I know in my heart I could have defused the situation and I wanted to be there for him at the hospital.