HAGERSTOWN, Md. (7News) — A Maryland police officer’s tragic loss and inspiring mission to fight opioid addiction is now the subject of a feature film premiering at a major international festival.
Kevin Simmers, a longtime Hagerstown police officer known for aggressively targeting drug-related crime, spent years arresting people struggling with addiction.
But his perspective changed dramatically when his own teenage daughter, Brooke, became an addict.
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“I’m locking people up for this every day at work, then I’m going home and it’s laying on my nightstand,” Simmers said, recalling the emotional strain of confronting addiction both professionally and personally.
Brooke Simmers died of an overdose in 2015 at age 19.
In the following years, her father shifted his focus from law enforcement to treatment, eventually founding Brooke’s House, a residential recovery program for women in Hagerstown.
The facility opened in 2019 and has since graduated more than 200 women, according to Simmers.
The program provides structured housing and recovery support for women seeking to overcome addiction.
“We believe 100% it was God’s doing,” Simmers said. “He took her to deliver this house.”
Simmers’ story gained attention through 7 News reporting on the region’s opioid crisis, including a series that chronicled the impact of heroin and other drugs in Maryland and West Virginia.
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Filmmaker Jake Allyn said he first learned about Simmers through those reports while searching for his next project.
He reached out to Simmers directly and later visited Hagerstown to learn more.
“I was just captivated by what happened to him and his family,” Allyn said. “I left that week being just like, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t just want to tell this story , I have to.’”
The result is “Clean Hands,” a film written and directed by Allyn.
It stars Zach Braff as Simmers and Esther McGregor as Brooke.
The movie will have its world premiere Sunday at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.
Simmers described the experience of seeing his life portrayed on screen as both surreal and emotionally challenging.
“Take the most traumatic time in your life and put it on a 90-minute film, and then watch it time and time again,” he said. “I can see it one time, and that’s enough for me, but I know the message is very important.”
The film was shot in Atlanta and includes not only professional actors but also several graduates of Brooke’s House and current Hagerstown police officers who worked with Simmers.
Naomi Pike, a Brooke’s House graduate who appears in the film, said she hopes the story will inspire others.
“I think what’s inspiring and what’s going to be moving about this movie is that people will get the message that there is hope,” she said.
Simmers and current residents of Brooke’s House plan to attend the sold-out premiere in Manhattan.
While there is not yet a theatrical release date, Allyn said he expects distribution plans to be finalized soon.
Simmers said he hopes the film will help reduce stigma around addiction and encourage broader access to treatment.
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“The movie will bring the conversation to the table and help lower the stigma and give more people the opportunity and access to treatment,” he said.
For Simmers, the film represents the next step in a long journey that began with a promise he made to his his daughter to open a residential treatment house.
Brooke’s House now includes not only the residential facility but also a coffee and chocolate shop as well as a thrift shop where residents can work.
Simmers’ next goal is to open a horse farm dedicated to mental health and therapy.
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