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Monday, January 12, 2009
Documents surface in inmate death case
George Hunter and Paul Egan / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Recently uncovered documents show Lenawee County Sheriff's officials lied during depositions last year when they claimed they did not know a female inmate was diabetic and in need of insulin before she died in her cell, attorneys for the family claim in a court filing.
The inmate, Yolanda Flores, 45, was found dead in her Lenawee County Jail cell the morning of Dec. 13, 2006, two days after her arrest on accusations of writing bad checks. Relatives later filed a lawsuit against the county, former Sheriff Lawrence Richardson Jr., and six jail guards, claiming the guards were deliberately indifferent to Flores' medical needs and that there was a conspiracy to cover up what they knew about the incident.
Richardson, the county and three of the guards later were dismissed from the lawsuit because there wasn't enough evidence to support the claims. But now, attorneys for Flores' family are asking that the county, Richardson and the three officers be reinstated to the lawsuit, because they claim the new documents, which were filed in court Friday, show the officers lied under oath and that Richardson and other county officials were aware that medical care policies weren't being carried out.
Attorneys could not comment Sunday because of a gag order.
At least one officer claimed during a deposition last year that he had never been questioned about Flores' death -- but the recently found documents, which are transcripts of a 2007 Internal Affairs investigation into Flores' death, show the guard not only was questioned about the incident but was punished for not acting properly.
The documents surfaced during a separate federal lawsuit claiming Lenawee jail officials ignored another inmate's request for medical help.
A trial was to begin Jan. 6, but after the transcripts were discovered, U.S. District Judge David M. Lawson adjourned the matter.
In depositions given in February 2008, three officers -- James Whiteman, Paul Dye and Leo Swinehart -- testified they did not know that Flores, a heroin addict, was in need of medical attention for her diabetes.
When Swinehart was deposed on Feb. 12, 2008, he said he wasn't aware Flores was in need of medical attention. However, during the 2007 Internal Affairs investigation, Swinehart admitted he knew Flores' blood sugar level of 483 necessitated him calling a doctor. "I dropped the ball when I did not call the doctor," Swinehart told the police investigator.
When the investigator pressed him about why he hadn't called a doctor, Swinehart answered, "If I was a betting man, I bet she was not taking (her medication) on the street."
The investigator answered, "It doesn't matter. You are a corrections officer, just plain and simple, and this is the medication ... she has to take, and it was three days and we never gave her these pills, never."
Kelee Krohn, 37, of Tecumseh was incarcerated in a cell near Flores.
Krohn said after Flores began begging for her insulin, jail guards taunted her by placing the medicine just outside her cell door.
"One guard said, 'You have enough heroin in your body; you don't need any more drugs,' " Krohn said. "I started yelling at the guards to give this woman her insulin.
"The guards told me to shut up. Then they turned the heat off. Later, one of the guards threatened me. The exact words were, 'If you speak a word of what you saw, you will end up back in jail. And it won't be the county jail, either.' "
You can reach George Hunter at (313) 222-2134 or ghunter@detnews.com. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090112/METRO01/901120321/1409/METRO Least We Shouldbe Ever Vigilant ! Power To the People .
