The Curious Case Of Bernard Scott

[Gravekeeper]

Or rather, not so curious case.

A black man being held over a traffic fine. Has a medical emergency and the jail refuses to allow the paramedics to take him to the ER. 14 minutes after the jail sends the paramedics away they are called again because now he's unconscious with possible brain damage. When the paramedics arrive a second time the police immediately claim that Scott had hung himself from the door of his cell by his shoelace.

After almost two weeks in a coma he regains consciousness and denies having attempted suicide and points out the obvious.

“Why would I hang myself?” he asked. “I was in on traffic tickets.”

[Greenday]

Why the hell is someone held over traffic tickets? A whopping $360 in fines? Who gives a shit? Is this what tax payer money is being wasted over? Aren't there actual criminals to worry about?

[Gravekeeper]

Why the hell is someone held over traffic tickets? A whopping $360 in fines? Who gives a shit? Is this what tax payer money is being wasted over? Aren't there actual criminals to worry about?

Good ol' debter's prison. Its sadly not that uncommon in some areas of the US. Mainly in municipalities where tickets are used as a revenue source not a law enforcement tool. They wanted him to bond out and likely get passed over to one of the many dubious private bonds services. Which in turn would bleed him dry for years.

[s_stabeler]

[. Has a medical emergency and the jail refuses to allow the paramedics to take him to the ER.

this is ultimately the problem: why was the jail making a medical decision on behalf of the inmate? the PARAMEDICS were recommending the guy be taken to the ER- if the guy is such a flight risk, then send a cop along to the ER with the guy. Don't deny someone medical treatment because you are on a power trip, for f*cks sake.

[Tama]

I've heard of MANY cases where a cop was sent to the ER with a guy...with the guy cuffed to the bed despite being mangled six ways from Sunday. This is not unheard of, so I dunno why they didn't do it.

[Gravekeeper]

I've heard of MANY cases where a cop was sent to the ER with a guy...with the guy cuffed to the bed despite being mangled six ways from Sunday. This is not unheard of, so I dunno why they didn't do it.

Thing is they did do that and were sending an officer with him. An officer had changed into plainclothes and was with the guy ready to go when his supervisor came out and told them they couldn't go.

[s_stabeler]

IOW, the supervisor was on a powertrip. Lovely.

[jedimaster91]

I don't doubt there are inmates who would fake some kind of medical emergency. But with as many health issues as people in general have these days, it's not worth the risk of assuming they're faking it. Not to mention the drug problems and some of those drugs can do real nasty things. If outside paramedics are saying the issue is serious enough to take someone to the ER, they need to go to the farking ER.

I'm really glad this guy made it and can call them out on this. Is it not standard procedure to remove anything an inmate might use for suicide anyway (even if they're just in holding)? Why would he have even had a shoelace?

[s_stabeler]

I don't doubt there are inmates who would fake some kind of medical emergency. But with as many health issues as people in general have these days, it's not worth the risk of assuming they're faking it. Not to mention the drug problems and some of those drugs can do real nasty things. If outside paramedics are saying the issue is serious enough to take someone to the ER, they need to go to the farking ER.

not to mention that most of the time, a paramedic doesn't just take the patient's word for it- they WILL do at least basic diagnostics on-scene, if ( for example) the patient claims they are having a heart attack, a paramedic may well hook them up to an ECG to check their heartbeat, assuming they haven't actually gone into cardiac arrest. or, in this case, the paramedics would establish that yes, the prisoner really is bleeding. ( incidentally, I wonder where exactly the bleeding was- if it was abdominal, I suspect the guy may have had a ruptured appendix, which is pretty serious.)

[Gravekeeper]

( incidentally, I wonder where exactly the bleeding was- if it was abdominal, I suspect the guy may have had a ruptured appendix, which is pretty serious.)

'

The paramedic found a 2 inch mass in the guy's abdomen that was causing severe pain:

• Pine Lawn Police Cpl. C.K. Harmon said the paramedic indicated there was “no substantial risk” and “no immediate life-threatening conditions.” However, the paramedic, Matthew Pay, said he found a 2-inch circular mass on Scott’s lower abdomen that was causing him pain. His report said he advised the police twice that Scott needed to go to the emergency room, but that Epps “stated pt does not need to be transferred and advised staff to discontinue paper work.”

• Corrections officer Angela Henderson wrote in a report that there was no bloodstain, although a photo in the file showed a bloodstain the size of a quarter. She also said it was the paramedic who “found no reason” to take Scott to the hospital.

• Epps wrote that he wasn’t even present. He said he left the station for 10 minutes while the paramedic was evaluating Scott and returned to find the ambulance had gone.

For reference, Epps was actually put in charge of the investigation into this incident after the fact. So the guy that told the paramedics they couldn't take Scott was put in charge of investigating why the jail did not allow the paramedics to take Scott.

Yeah.

His investigation went no where ( surprise surprise ) and several of the officers and jail workers contracted each other in statements during the investigation. But no effort was made to sort out *why* they were contradicting each other.

[s_stabeler]

yeah, something doesn't make sense here. a paramedic would not simultaneously say something isn't serious or life-threatening but that they need to be taken in the ambulance to hospital. ( oh, and I DO believe the paramedic- who has no reason to lie- over the jail, which has a very good reason to lie.)

but yeah, there needs to be someone independant investigating this.

[Canarr]

'
For reference, Epps was actually put in charge of the investigation into this incident after the fact. So the guy that told the paramedics they couldn't take Scott was put in charge of investigating why the jail did not allow the paramedics to take Scott.

Hey, be fair! He said he hadn't been there, at all, so it couldn't have been him!