| MIAMI-DADE |
Prisoner death raises suspicion
Officer relieved of duty as detectives review treatment of handcuffed man
The cause of death, reported by an associate medical examiner, was a ruptured spleen caused by trauma. That was discovered last Sunday, the morning after Vazquez died. The next day, officer Carlos L. Rivera was advised of his rights and relieved of duty while detectives investigate how forcefully he stopped Vazquez from running away from a police substation.
Rivera is suspected of lying on his written report, which said the handcuffed prisoner lost his footing and fell against a table. A sergeant who co-signed the report, Frank Pichel, also was relieved of duty.
The case revives concerns about the medical care given to jail inmates. Two years ago, a Miami-Dade prisoner with a runaway infection died after jail nurses waited 15 hours to get her treatment that might have saved her life.
In 1997, there were two deaths -- a woman who was treated only for a cold, but died of bronchial pneumonia and meningitis, and a man given Maalox when he had a bleeding ulcer.
Details of Elew Vazquez' examination and treatment are still being assembled, but Sgt. Julio Pino of the Miami police homicide squad said this much is known: On Monday, April 10, Rivera arrested Vazquez during a street narcotics operation. He was taken to a neighborhood police station where he tried to escape and Rivera stopped him. He was there for about three hours before being taken away.
"Nothing indicated a need for instant medical attention,'' Pino said.
"He didn't stop breathing or pass out or cause any officer to say some serious medical attention was needed. If he had, Rescue would have been called.
"At Ward D, he was logged in about 6:40 p.m. and left at approximately 7:05.''
Ward D is a secure area of Jackson where sick and injured prisoners are brought on the way to jail. Jackson's doctors and nurses staff the ward, but it's operated by the jail. County corrections spokeswoman Janelle Hall said she had been ordered to refer all questions to police.
Pino said Vazquez was taken to Jackson by an officer who was assigned to drive prisoners to jail.
Miami police don't know yet who examined him, what Vazquez said about his injury or what the diagnosis was. That information is still being collected by county police, but Pino said it's clear that the diagnosis was not a ruptured spleen. That is a dangerous injury that, if suspected, would have kept Vazquez at the hospital.
The spleen, about the size of a man's fist, is behind the ribs on the left side of the body. It works as a blood reservoir and a filter to remove used-up red cells. Ruptures are signaled by the steady decline of blood pressure over a period of time. If such an injury is caused by a hard blow to the left side body -- a kick or hard punches, for example -- it would not be noticeable on visual examination.
Whoever examined Vazquez would not have even known about the allegedly false police report, saying Vazquez injured his left ribs when he fell against a table at the police station:
"Those reports are not forwarded to Ward D,'' Sgt. Pino said. "I don't know about this case, but ordinarily they speak to the patient about his injury. He tells the doctor or nurse or whoever, `The police beat me or they ran over me,' and they're going to examine him. Then, in order to get a prisoner from Ward D into the jail, you need a release signed by Ward D.''
Investigators have been told that while in jail, Vazquez complained often of being in pain.
"They say he did convey that he was in pain, to numerous people including jail guards and cellmates. We have cellmates saying guards were alerted. We haven't verified that yet. We're still sorting through documentation to see if there were any written reports, but from what we do have, there is no indication at this time that he was treated at any time other than when he collapsed on the 15th.''
That was on Saturday morning, about 9:30, the investigator said:
"He collapsed in a cell. Someone yelled for guards and he was transferred immediately to the clinic. He was able to communicate with the nurses. He complained of pain in the stomach and he felt something was hurt. I don't know what measures they took. I believe they called other medical personnel to respond, and when they did, his condition deteriorated. Rescue was already en route.''
City Fire Rescue paramedics found Vazquez still alive, but unconscious. They could not revive him, Pino said.