DEATH SPURS LAWSUIT $10 MILLION CLAIM FILED AFTER JAIL BED FATALITY.Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer PALMDALE - Sisters of a 33-year-old Palmdale man who died after a struggle with deputies in the Twin Towers jail have filed a $10 million claim against Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County. Kevin Lamar Evans, arrested two days earlier on suspicion of stealing a shopping cart in Palmdale, died Oct. 22 while deputies attempted to strap him to a bed in the medical facility of the Twin Towers jail, records show. ``Their brother died at the hands of those deputies trying to unnecessarily restrain him,'' said attorney Cameron Stewart Cameron Stewart is an Eisner Award-nominated Canadian comic artist who has worked for DC, Marvel, and Dark Horse. Biography Along with Kagan McLeod, Ben Shannon, Steven Murray, and Chip Zdarsky, he is a co-founder of the studio The Royal Academy of Illustration and , who is representing Evans' sisters. ``It was senseless.'' According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a 31-page county coroner's report obtained by the Daily News, Evans died of heart disease and ``the effects of restraint against combative behavior.'' The autopsy found evidence of severe heart disease as well as damage to his throat, which the medical examiner A public official charged with investigating all sudden, suspicious, unexplained, or unnatural deaths within the area of his or her appointed jurisdiction. A medical examiner differs from a Coroner in that a medical examiner is a physician. said may have been caused by deputies holding around his neck a mask used to keep prisoners from spitting at them. According to the coroner's report, the deputies may have tried to conceal their actions after Evans stopped moving by shutting off a video camera that had taped the struggle, and the initial account from witnesses differs from what is shown on the videotape. The coroner's report also said officials could not clarify whether CPR Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) Definition Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a procedure to support and maintain breathing and circulation for a person who has stopped breathing (respiratory arrest) and/or whose heart has stopped (cardiac was started promptly. Sheriff's officials refused to comment on the case, saying an investigation is under way and no information can be released until it is completed. Evans was initially issued a citation Oct. 20 on suspicion of stealing a shopping cart from the Food 4 Less store on 25th Street and Avenue S. According to a sheriff's report, Evans was spotted with the cart on 25th Street East at Avenue Q-4. Palmdale sheriff's deputies said they knew Evans because business people had complained about him harassing customers. He had been arrested in the past on charges including suspicion of drug use and assault with a deadly weapon Assault with a Deadly Weapon is the term used to describe the act of threatening to harm one or more people by using a weapon (usually a firearm). Here, assault must be differentiated from battery as they are often confused. Assault is threatening to use force. , deputies said. Five months before his death, a Lucky manager placed him under citizen's arrest cit·i·zen's arrest n. An arrest made by a citizen, for whom legal authority arises from the fact of citizenship, rather than by an officer of the law. for trespassing, telling deputies Evans was harassing customers in front of the store and refusing to leave. Evans, who gave as his address the Lancaster homeless shelter Homeless shelters are temporary residences for homeless people. Usually located in urban neighborhoods, they are similar to emergency shelters. The primary difference is that homeless shelters are usually open to anyone, without regard to the reason for need. , was given a citation and ordered to appear in court the following day. At his Lancaster court appearance, Evans was argumentative Controversial; subject to argument. Pleading in which a point relied upon is not set out, but merely implied, is often labeled argumentative. Pleading that contains arguments that should be saved for trial, in addition to allegations establishing a Cause of Action or and disruptive, and the judge ordered him jailed until a hearing four days later, the coroner's report said. After a mental evaluation that evening at Twin Towers, he was deemed a danger to inmates and deputies and ordered strapped by his hands and feet to a bed in the jail medical facility, the report said. According to the coroner's report, eight deputies accompanied Evans - who was in a wheelchair - just after midnight Oct. 22 into the Twin Towers medical facility, several hours after he arrived at the jail. Coroner's investigator William Grice said he viewed an 11-minute 20-second videotape of Evans' transfer to the jail medical facility and of the struggle there. As the video starts, Evans ``appears to be calm, unemotional and in a slight stupor stupor /stu·por/ (stoo´per) [L.] 1. a lowered level of consciousness. 2. in psychiatry, a disorder marked by reduced responsiveness.stu´porous stu·por n. ,'' Grice wrote in his report, and he is holding a sandwich and several small pieces of paper in his left hand. After wheeling Evans into a room, the deputies placed him on a bed and began strapping his feet down, Grice wrote. But when one deputy reached across the bed and tried to take the sandwich, Evans ``immediately became combative,'' Grice said. Six or seven deputies swarmed on him, with one deputy straddling strad·dle v. strad·dled, strad·dling, strad·dles v.tr. 1. a. To stand or sit with a leg on each side of; bestride: straddle a horse. b. his legs and another placing his knee on Evan's upper chest or throat, Grice wrote. As the deputy knelt on him, Grice wrote, Evans several times made ``a hoarse throaty throat·y adj. throat·i·er, throat·i·est Uttered or sounding as if uttered deep in the throat; guttural, hoarse, or husky. throat sound.'' The struggle took several minutes, he wrote, and when it finished and the deputies moved away from the bed so Evans could be seen, he was motionless. After one deputy appears to check Evan's neck with his fingers, he said something to another deputy, who immediately said, ``Get the nurse in here,'' then twice repeated, ``Kill the camera,'' Grice wrote. The coroner's report notes a discrepancy between the participants' account of the incident and what the videotape shows. According to the initial investigation by sheriff's homicide detectives, witnesses said a nurse gave Evans an injection of Ativan, a sedative sedative, any of a variety of drugs that relieve anxiety. Most sedatives act as mild depressants of the nervous system, lessening general nervous activity or reducing the irritability or activity of a specific organ. prescribed by the facility doctor, following the struggle. Five minutes later, according to that account, the nurse returned and found that Evans was unresponsive and began to initiate CPR but was unsuccessful. Grice's report does not comment on the difference between the initial witness accounts and the videotape. The autopsy showed heavy bruising around the upper chest and throat area that may have played a role in triggering Evans' heart attack. ``Several physically straining factors played some unclear role in causing this death,'' the report says. ``Neck trauma . . . could have been caused during the process of holding the anti-spit mask tightly to the neck region.'' |
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