Florida teen dies of head trauma in custody after arrest for small amount of pot

[villager]

as the article says, "The important thing here is that the government has successfully protected another young person from the harm of marijuana. Perez will never smoke pot again."


Florida teen is arrested for small amount of pot, sustains a head injury after an incident with the guards, suffers a stroke, and dies in his jail cell.

A West Palm Beach grand jury declared “fundamentally inadequate” the medical care given to an 18-year-old who died after two head injuries he received at the county juvenile lockup were ignored for hours by guards, supervisors and the facility’s superintendent.

Eric Perez, who was detained after being arrested with a small amount of marijuana, died in the early morning hours of July 9 after spending most of the prior night hallucinating, vomiting, soiling himself and seeking help from guards who ignored him. The grand jury’s report, issued Friday, said Eric had been dead for an hour before lockup corrections officers noticed he had passed away. An officer stationed outside his cell had checked on him every 10 minutes without noticing his death.

“The only attempt to seek an outside medical opinion during the entire episode was two phone calls to the head nurse that went unanswered during the night,” the report, called a presentment, said. “The officers’ response to Mr. Perez’s hallucinations, instability and cries of pain were to simply observe him as he lay on the floor vomiting and defecating in his underwear. More effort was spent cleaning the floor around the youth than attending to his welfare.”

<snip>

http://ow.ly/9EvSb

[ailsagirl]

1. How terribly sad

[EC]

2. Mr. Perez's hallucinations?

From pot? There is something else here if he was indeed hallucinating.

[The Doctor.]

3. Yes, he suffered a head injury,

and subsequent stroke.

[CrispyQ]

4. Another fatality in the war on a leaf.

"...More effort was spent cleaning the floor around the youth than attending to his welfare.”


What a tragic story.

[MindMover]

7. The war on drugs......

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/41483660@N04/6827299316/" title="freezedirtbag2 by pbmus, on Flickr"><img src="" width="350" height="280" alt="freezedirtbag2"></a>

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. All of these things are happening in Florida.

Is anyone other state getting this kind of activity?

We has the girl in St. Pete who was tased and hit the ground and is now in a permanent coma.

We have the boy in Sanford who was stalked by the citizen patrol who killed him.

And now this kid.

Is it like that everywhere else?

[They_Live]

6. Another thread on the

same story

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101471609

[dotymed]

8. Another blow struck

for Democracy

[mistertrickster]

9. Another marijuana-related death. nt