$85,000 Settlement in Suit over Colorado Jail Prisoner’s Heart Attack Death

In May 2012, the county commissioners of El Paso County, Colorado, agreed to settle a federal civil rights action brought by the estate and heirs of an El Paso County Criminal Justice Center (jail) prisoner who died while locked in a courthouse holding cell.

Bruce R. Howard, 67, was arrested for charges related to a domestic dispute and booked into the jail. Two days later, while awaiting arraignment in a courthouse holding cell, he suffered cardiac arrhythmia and died. His estate and heirs filed a federal civil rights action alleging violations of Howard’s civil rights and state torts. Defendants included the county, Sheriff’s Office officials, Correctional Healthcare Management (CHM), G.H. Phillips Construction Co. (Phillips), West Electric Group (West) and CHM employees.

Court documents allege that Howard was suffering from chemical dependency, heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. Although he informed jail personnel of this at booking, he was not allowed to bring his prescription heart medication and other medications into the jail and was not placed in a chemical dependency housing unit. He was seen by CHM nurses, but never given the medications had he been prescribed, including one to prevent heart palpitations. He exhibited cold sweating, weakness, shaking and hallucinations during his stay at the jail, but received no treatment for these symptoms. Not even his blood pressure was checked.

When Howard was taken to the courthouse, he injured his hand leaving the van. He was seen by a nurse and his hand was treated, but was not treated for his other medical conditions. He was then placed in a holding cell. A few minutes later he collapsed.

Other prisoners in the holding cell tried to call attention to the situation by repeatedly pushing a red "panic button" located in the cell, yelling and pounding on the cell door. No one responded for over 17 minutes. Since the cell had a monitoring camera, this was all captured on video tape. By the time someone responded, Howard was dead. He was pronounced DOA upon arrival at the hospital.

The "panic button" had been disconnected by a company doing asbestos abatement. Philipp’s had been hired to perform renovation at the courthouse and had subcontracted asbestos abatement and other tasks to West and other companies. The settlement did not cover those companies or CHM, a Greenwood Village, Colorado company that contracted with the county to provide prisoner healthcare at the jail, only settling claims between plaintiffs and El Paso County, and sheriff's office officials.

Plaintiffs were represented by Denver attorney Michael O’B’Keating. See: Howard v. El Paso County, U.S.D.C.-D.Col., Case No. 1:T0-cv-02740-CMA-MEH.

Additional source: The Gazette

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