Report Says Inmate Death Accidental : Jail: Deputies inadvertently contributed to death of asthmatic inmate when they held him down to remove his clothing, medical examiner says.

San Diego County sheriff’s deputies accidentally contributed to the death last month of a retarded, asthmatic inmate at the downtown Central Jail when they held him down to remove his clothing, the county Medical Examiner’s Office has determined.

Although there was no evidence of physical injury to 18-year-old John Maes, deputies who pinned him to the ground “may have worsened the pre-existing breathing problems,” contributing to his death, according to Dr. Harry Bonnell, chief deputy medical examiner.

The official cause of death, he said, was a lack of oxygen to the brain caused by bronchial asthma.

Despite Bonnell’s conclusion, sheriff’s homicide detectives are continuing to investigate Maes’ death and will then decide whether to pass any findings to internal affairs, for possible administrative action against the deputies, or to the district attorney’s office, for criminal action.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI are conducting separate inquiries.

The autopsy shows that Maes, an asthmatic, had no medicine in his bloodstream at the time of the examination and had “severe obstruction” of thick mucus in his airways, the signs of an asthma attack.

The report says that Maes had breathing problems sometime before his death but refused treatment. At some point thereafter, he asked for medical care and was treated at the jail’s medical clinic. Still later, he complained about his breathing, and nurses told correctional deputies to place him in an observation cell.

The report never makes clear the timing of Maes’ treatment or when he first refused to take his medicine.

The Sheriff’s Department has said that Maes was arrested July 7 on suspicion of grand theft and burglary. About 2 a.m. Aug. 14, he complained of being short of breath, the department said. He was given medicine and, four hours later, placed in the observation cell.

Rolland Ray, medical administrator for the county jails, said Tuesday that the medical staff saw Maes twice during those four hours. Maes refused medical treatment at one point and accepted it at another time, Ray said, but he had access to his spray medicine at all times.

“While he was in the (general population) cell, he had his inhaler on him, and when he was taken into the observation cell, so nursing personnel could keep an eye on him, he was steps away from a nurse who could provide treatment,” Ray said.

Before being taken to the observation cell, Maes was told to remove his clothing, which is standard procedure, and, when he refused, he was handcuffed, according to the report.

One deputy knelt on the floor and leaned into his lower back. A second deputy held Maes’ shoulders. After his clothing was removed, Maes was carried into the observation cell and “placed in a kneeling position” in a corner, the report said.

A few minutes later, Maes was found to be “unresponsive,” and medical staff resuscitated him. He was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center, where he died two days later.

Immediately after Maes’ death, two fellow inmates told the San Diego Tribune that they saw deputies beat Maes while he begged for medical help. One inmate said several deputies threw Maes against the padded walls of the observation cell as he cried out.

Soon after Maes fell silent, the inmate said, deputies began discussing among themselves how they were going to explain his death and then rounded up inmates, urging them to forget what they had seen.

Sheriff’s spokesman Dan Greenblat said the autopsy report, noting the absence of physical trauma, “clearly puts the lie to the charges that (a deputy) had beaten the inmate.”

Homicide investigators are conducting a “thorough investigation of this incident, and the further disposition of this case awaits that outcome,” Greenblat said. “The death of any citizen is taken very seriously, and our investigation has yet to shed light on the full story.”

The autopsy report does not explain why Maes had no asthma medicine in his bloodstream, but Ray suggested that it might have dissipated during his two days in the hospital.

Bonnell did not return calls for comment.

Dr. Brian D. Blackbourne, the county’s medical examiner, said Maes’ death resulted from the “unintentional outcome” of the physical restraint.

“Other police restraints have been ruled homicides,” he said. “This was a little bit different in that no excessive force was used. There were no physical injuries other than a scratch on the arm.”