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| Youth's Officers Asked for Help |
| By Miami Herald |
| Published: 07/02/2003 |
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Corrections officers asked their supervisors to either seek a doctor for Omar Paisley or transport the youth to Jackson Memorial Hospital, which has a locked ward for jail and detention-center inmates. Efforts to secure medical care started at noon Saturday, June 7, and continued through Monday night, when Omar died. ''I felt helpless,'' one corrections officer told The Herald. 'I felt bad I couldn't do more, but my hands were tied.'' Omar, who pleaded guilty to a battery charge June 6 before Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer, died at about 10 p.m. three days later of a ruptured appendix. His death is under investigation by the Department of Juvenile Justice's Inspector General's office and the Miami-Dade Police Department. Robby Cunningham, a spokesman for DJJ, declined to discuss Omar's death, or the agency's investigation of the tragedy. ''We've got to maintain the integrity of the investigation,'' Cunningham said June 20, 'so we just can't comment on anything at this point.'' Two corrections officers who worked with Omar spoke to The Herald on the condition their names would not be published. Omar's sickness made for a hectic day in his unit, officers said. ''All the children suffered with Omar, as he suffered,'' said Elizabeth Judd, a field service representative for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees in South Florida, who has spoken with several of the officers. The account of the officers is similar to the descriptions of two teens who were in the unit with Omar. The day after Omar's death, about a dozen correctional officers from the detention center gathered for a monthly meeting of their AFSCME local. The officers were distraught, according to two people who attended the meeting; a couple of the officers were in tears. OFFICERS UPSET ''They were highly upset,'' said a union officer who was there. 'They stayed around to talk for two hours. Two of them were in tears; they couldn't believe what had happened.'' Omar, who graduated this spring from Booker T. Washington High School, was awaiting a bed at a residential school for troubled teens. An officer said Omar sat quietly on his bunk later that day, reading the Bible. He spoke by telephone later with his mother, who said he did not complain of being ill. The detention center log book shows that an officer called the nurse's station at about noon Saturday to say that Omar was complaining of a stomach ache and headache. A nurse stopped by and placed Omar on bed rest, telling him to drink fluids, an officer said. On Sunday morning, officers were told that four youths in the detention center were suffering from stomach viruses, and were to be kept on bed rest. Omar complained throughout the morning and asked to see the nurse again. The nurse told the youth to continue on bed rest and to drink fluids. At around noon, an officer said, Omar waved down one of the officers. ''Somebody's got to help me,'' he said. Omar did not sleep Sunday night, an officer told The Herald. 'He was moaning all night. He was in pain.'' By Monday morning, another youth appeared to have come down with a stomach virus; both he and Omar were placed on bed rest. At a 7 a.m. shift change, one officer told another Omar needed medical care, an officer said. ''We have to do something for him,'' the officer had said. Throughout Monday morning, Omar continued to moan, and occasionally yell, an officer said. 'He would say, 'I hurt so bad, I hurt so bad. My stomach hurts so bad,' '' the officer said. BREATHING PROBLEMS An officer said the youth had trouble breathing, complained he was in pain and had dark red eyes. At about 1 p.m., one officer became agitated, yelling at his supervisor that Omar needed to see a doctor. A corrections officer told The Herald that the supervisor then called Assistant Superintendent Victor Davidson. But the call for a doctor never was made, two officers said. A woman corrections officer who has four children of her own was working inside a glass booth that day, two officers said. Omar had been moaning so loudly that the woman left her post to ask the youth what was wrong. Omar continued to ask for help throughout the day. He only got to see a nurse. Omar died around 10 p.m. of a ruptured appendix in front of the other youths in his unit. When the officers who work the early shift arrived the next morning, they were devastated, The Herald was told. One officer who had become close to Omar screamed at supervisors that they had allowed the youth to die. ''I left here with 28 children. I come back to 27 and one dead,'' he screamed. |
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