Douglas James, the 62-year-old man with dementia who was missing for weeks after being left at a gas station by California Highway Patrol officers, is expected to be reunited with his family in Los Angeles Friday.
“It’s a Christmas miracle,” attorney Mark Ravis told reporters in downtown Los Angeles.
According to the lawyer, parolee Douglas James spent the past six weeks riding public transit, “day and night, looking for a friendly face. We don’t yet know how he was eating.”
The discovery comes a couple of weeks after Ravis called for increased efforts to find him by Christmas.
James was a passenger in a car being driven by his twin brother, Donald, on Nov. 5, when they were stopped by the CHP and Donald was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
Ravis said James was arrested Wednesday for vagrancy in Pasadena and will be released from Los Angeles County jail Friday, although he did not immediately know when. He was initially expected to be reunited with family at a noon news conference outside a courthouse downtown, but was not released in time.
“He was sleeping in (a) dental office,” Lt. Sean Dawkins of the Pasadena Police Department told NBC4. “It’s fortunate for us that we ran him for all types of any wants or warrants, and it came up as a missing person.”
The dental office is located in the 1100 block of East Green Street, east of Lake Avenue, police said.
Antquon James, one of Douglas James’ three sons, said the first thing he would do when he is reunited with his father is to “give him a hug.”
The family says the elder James, who has dementia, went missing after CHP officers dropped him and his dog, Teddy Bear, at an ARCO gas station in Torrance — 12 miles from their home in South Los Angeles.
Donald James said that after his arrest, officers drove him back to the apartment he shares with his brother, but Douglas wasn’t there. Ravis said the dog was fatally run over sometime after it was dropped off at the gas station with its owner.
Ravis said the Douglas James situation “highlights the problem of missing persons,” and said he foresees filing a claim with the city as a precursor to a lawsuit alleging police misconduct.
“Dumping them on the street — that is totally unacceptable,” the attorney said.
Dr. Ernie Smith, a professor of medicine at Charles Drew University, said at the press conference that law enforcement “needs to be more compassionate” in dealing with missing persons and the homeless.
“We can do better in preventing this problem,” he said. “In this case, it was total disrespect for the family. They need to pay attention to people who are suffering.”
Ravis said the officers who dropped Douglas James off on the street “need to be disciplined. There needs to be an internal investigation.”
Family members actively sought assistance in finding James, including a request of assistance from Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and two requests of the office of Gove. Gavin Newsom.
CHP officials previously issued a statement saying Douglas James was able to communicate clearly with the officers, who followed policy by dropping him off in a safe, public place. However, the CHP said in light of the family’s concerns, the agency is reviewing the officers’ actions.
Further details about James’ health were not immediately available, but Ravis said he was told that the missing man seems to be “OK.”
The attorney told reporters that Douglas James had spent years in state prison for robbery and attempted murder, and had been released in October 2018.
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