Jail Restraints May Have Led to Inmate’s Death, Report Says

The death of a 33-year-old man in Twin Towers Jail last fall was the result of a heart attack that might have been triggered by the restraints used by sheriff’s deputies, who then attempted to conceal their actions, according to a Los Angeles County coroner’s report.

In fact, a recording made by a jail video camera shows Kevin Lamar Evans--who his attorney says was arrested for stealing a shopping cart--being restrained, and then a deputy’s voice is heard repeating: “Kill the camera, kill the camera,” the coroner’s report said.

Moreover, according to a coroner’s investigator, the events as recorded on video conflict with statements made by deputies about Evans’ death.

As a result of several such “unresolved factors”--including the struggle over restraints and a question about when Evans was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation--the coroner’s office said it could not determine the mode of Evans’ death.

On Friday, Evans’ three sisters were reportedly preparing to file a $10-million claim against the county. The claim, which is likely to be denied, is a precursor to a lawsuit.

Sheriff’s Department spokesmen refused to comment specifically on the case.

Video cameras are used in Twin Towers by deputies when they use force or face combative inmates, sheriff’s officials said.

Cameron A. Stewart, an attorney representing the sisters, said she believes the videotape clearly shows a cover-up by the deputies.

“Normally a camera doesn’t capture this kind of thing,” Stewart said. “I think there’s a certain mentality down there [at the jail] and basically these rogue deputies think they can get away with anything.”

The coroner’s report says that deputies clearly used force to restrain Evans. According to the video, the events leading to Evans’ death began with Evans, who was scheduled to receive a court-ordered psychiatric examination that day, sitting passively in a wheelchair with a plastic-wrapped sandwich in his hand. The video stops for a bit, then picks up with a deputy wheeling Evans into a room and placing him on a bed.

“There appears to be total compliance by the decedent up to this point,” according to the report, written by coroner’s investigator William Grice.

Deputies prepared to put padded leather restraints on Evans’ wrists and ankles when another deputy grabbed the sandwich from his hand, the report says. Evans reached for it and appeared to become combative.

Suddenly, six or seven deputies converged on Evans, the coroner’s report says. One deputy is seen on the videotape with his knee on Evans’ chest or neck and Evans can be heard making a hoarse, throaty sound, according to the coroner. Another deputy appears to be straddling his lower body and it appears to have been several minutes before Evans was fully restrained, according to the report. The room was mostly cleared at that time, the report said. One deputy removed the so-called spit bag--a mesh-covered bag used to prevent inmates from spitting on deputies--and he then felt Evans’ neck and said something, inaudible on the tape, to another deputy. The report then states that the deputy said, “Get the nurse in here,” then twice repeated, “Kill the camera.”

The videotape, which runs more than 11 minutes, was then shut off, the report says.

A Sheriff’s Department investigator told the coroner that Evans was so combative that it took six of eight deputies present to restrain him. When they did, the department investigator said, a nurse entered the room, gave him an injection to calm him and then returned five minutes later. At that point, the investigator said, she discovered he was unresponsive and began resuscitation efforts.

A second videotape, the coroner’s report says, depicts the resuscitation attempts, and medical records state that the attempts were made and sets out the timeline.

But the autopsy report says that paramedics and the first doctor on the scene both stated that no cardiopulmonary resuscitation efforts were going on when they arrived. About 15 minutes elapsed from when the nurse attempted resuscitation to when they arrived.

Drug and alcohol tests on Evans all were negative, and neck bruises were clearly visible, according to the autopsy report. Those could have come from the struggle to restrain Evans, the report said.

“The two videotapes . . . [are] all helpful but do not help one determine the nature and cause of the neck trauma, nor do they clarify whether or not CPR was begun promptly,” wrote Eugene Carpenter Jr., the senior deputy medical examiner.

Evans, who according to his sisters suffered from cerebral palsy, lived in Palmdale when he was arrested for stealing the shopping cart, Stewart said. He was referred by a judge to Twin Towers when he began mumbling in court, the lawyer said. He arrived in the jail at 7:35 p.m. on Oct. 21, 1999, and was pronounced dead at 12:55 a.m.

Sources close to the Sheriff’s Department said that Evans’ death appears problematic and that the CPR discrepancy is extremely troubling. The sources also said that the coroner’s report appears “unusual” in its level of detail about the videotapes and the discrepancies.

The Sheriff’s Department, which runs the largest jail system in the country, has faced lawsuits, internal investigations and severe criticism over in-custody deaths. A year before Evans died, then-Sheriff Sherman Block launched an investigation into a group of deputies who were alleged to have formed a vigilante group to beat unruly inmates. Those deputies, who were referred to as “the posse,” did not face criminal charges.

Before that, the department investigated the in-custody death of Danny Smith, a mentally ill inmate who was allegedly beaten by deputies. Shortly thereafter, another inmate, Mark Philyaw, died after a physical altercation with seven deputies. The coroner ruled that death a homicide.

Those disclosures came as the department dealt with continuing allegations of deputy misconduct in the jails. As many as 14 deputies were under investigation after allegations that they encouraged attacks on suspected child molesters at Men’s Central Jail.