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| County Called Negligent in Inmate's Death |
| By Los Angeles Times |
| Published: 10/17/2001 |
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The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department negligently allowed a mentally ill man to die in its custody after deputies tried to subdue him, then performed an internal investigation so flawed that it undermined the agency's credibility, according to a report by the county supervisors' special monitor of the agency. Attorney Merrick Bobb compared the 1999 death of 33-year-old Kevin Evans to the case of Margaret Mitchell, a diminutive mentally ill homeless woman who was killed by Los Angeles police officers that same year when she charged one with a screwdriver. His 59-page report on the Evans case found that the Sheriff's Department 'acted in a negligent, perhaps reckless way.' Bobb reported that Evans had never acted violently yet was placed in restraints, that sheriff's deputies held him down for minutes even after he began gagging, and that after Evans stopped breathing, no one performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation for 15 minutes. One nurse involved in the Evans case has been forced to leave the department. But even though Bobb cited a host of oversights and questionable actions, no deputy has been disciplined. |
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