Lexington, Kentucky: 21 year old Roland Campbell dies while being held down by police

Roland Campbell, 21

Mother wants answers in autistic son's death while in police custody
By Josh Kegley — jkegley@herald-leader.com
Posted: 12:00am on Apr 20, 2010

A mother has asked Lexington police and medical providers for details surrounding her autistic son's death after officers tried to handcuff him at a group home for mentally disabled people Sunday.

Roland Campbell, 21, was pronounced dead at St. Joseph Hospital at 4:33 p.m., according to a coroner's report. A cause of death had not been determined Monday, but preliminary autopsy results ruled out physical trauma and disease, Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said. Ginn said Campbell had superficial lacerations on his hand.

Police received a call about 3:30 p.m. Sunday regarding "a mentally challenged subject that was out of control" at a home on Waco Road, police Cmdr. Ron Compton said.

At a Monday news conference, Compton said all Lexington officers are trained to respond to people with mental disabilities. He said that he didn't think the two responding officers had violated procedure but that an investigation was ongoing.

Roland Campbell's brothers, Roman Campbell, 21, and Ceasar Cook, 29, said they had been told that their brother had become enraged, turning over tables and breaking items inside the home.
Officers initially handcuffed Roland Campbell without incident, intending to take him into emergency detention. Compton said physical evidence at the scene and witnesses' statements indicated that Campbell was "a danger to himself and others."

Compton said that Campbell became violent and escaped his restraints, and that when officers were cuffing him a second time, he lost consciousness. The officers performed CPR until emergency medical personnel arrived.

Roman Campbell questioned whether police used too much force when restraining his brother, who he said was severely autistic and could not speak.

"He's confused. When they come in jumping on him like that, he's not thinking like we would be thinking, like, 'Oh, we got to calm down, the police are here,'" Roman Campbell said.

Pecola Campbell said that her son had lived with two other disabled men and a caretaker at the home since September and that he was normally "sweet and happy." She said Roland Campbell would not have acted violently unless he had been provoked or felt threatened.

Roland Campbell took several medications that affected his mood, she said. Roman Campbell said his brother might have acted violently if he had been given the wrong medication.

A statement released by Linda Hill, owner of Adult Daycare of Lexington Inc., said "the death was not the result of any action or inaction" of the ADC staff.

ADC, which runs the Waco Road home, contracts with the state Medicaid program to provide services under the Supports for Community Living program. The program allows people with intellectual or developmental disabilities to receive care in a homelike setting, rather than an institution.

Pecola Campbell said Roland Campbell liked listening to music and was fascinated by flashing lights on police cars. She said when he was agitated he was easily calmed by the feel of cotton fabric.

"Even though he couldn't speak, he was still the nicest person you could meet," said Roman Campbell.

Pecola Campbell said she would find out what happened to her son no matter what it took.

"I have nothing to lose now," she said.


Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/04/20/1230733/mother-wants-answers-in-sons-death.html#more#ixzz1ETb52AOs

Nov 18, 2010
By Josh Kegley | Kentucky

The Fayette County coroner’s office will not conduct an investigation into the death of a 21-year-old autistic man in police custody.

Roland Campbell, who was severely autistic and could not speak, stopped breathing April 18 while being held down by two Lexington police officers and a caretaker at a group home owned by Adult Day Care Inc. of Lexington.

The cause of death was acute cardiorespiratory failure, a type of heart failure, according to an autopsy performed by the state’s associate chief medical examiner. The manner of death — whether the death was an accident, suicide, homicide or from natural causes — is listed as undetermined pending investigation into the events leading up to it.

Campbell’s autopsy was completed in July. The Fayette County coroner’s office released a copy to the Herald-Leader on Tuesday.

Both the state medical examiner and a state advocacy group for the mentally disabled suggested a coroner’s inquest, an investigation into the events surrounding the death.

“One option is to conduct a coroner’s inquest, which should include taking sworn testimony and going to the Waco residence to perform the re-enactment,” associate chief medical examiner John Hunsaker III said in the autopsy report.

However, Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said Wednesday legal counselors advised him not to conduct the inquest.
Ginn said any such investigation should come from the courts if a civil lawsuit is filed. There is no guarantee, he said, an inquest would reveal anything.
“It could become inconclusive, which could put us back to square one,” he said. “I don’t see using the county’s funds for that.”

Individual investigations by the Lexington police department and Adult Day Care have been closed.

The police investigation was closed after the autopsy was completed in July, Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts said. Police have said responding officers acted appropriately to subdue a man who was “a danger to himself and others.”

Police were called after Campbell began destroying items in the home and lashing out at caretakers, reports say.

An attorney for Adult Day Care, Jill Hall Rose, said the company’s internal investigation and an investigation by the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services ordered caretakers to be retrained to handle emergency situations, but no further actions were pending.

“The department found the home did nothing that contributed to the death,” she said.
Kentucky Protection and Advocacy, a group that supports the mentally disabled, has been investigating the death since May. Director Marsha Hockensmith said the investigations by police and Adult Day Care may not tell the whole story.

“You had so many folks involved in this,” Hockensmith said.

“It’s like there are pockets of investigation … being done, but they never meet in the middle,” she said.

Campbell’s heart failure was brought on by several conditions, including lack of oxygen, dehydration, physical exhaustion, possible medication intoxication and “autism-induced excited delirium during prone restraint,” the autopsy said.

Several incident reports from police and witness statements were included in the autopsy report.
According to documents, officers responded to an Adult Day Care group home at 2961 Waco Road after Campbell began destroying furniture and other items.

Campbell, who was breathing heavily and was covered in sweat, had pulled down a refrigerator and destroyed light fixtures, electrical outlets and furniture before jumping out a window, reports said.

Officers were called to take Campbell into emergency protective custody, police have said.
Two officers, Derrick Wallace and Matthew Smith, and Adult Day Care employee Eric Hatter had pinned down the flailing man with a blanket while trying to handcuff him when he “suddenly stopped moving.”

Officers performed CPR until an ambulance arrived.

According to reports, pepper spray and Tasers were not used on Campbell. At no point was pressure put on his neck or head, the report said.

However, police reports and witness statements do not say whether pressure was placed on Campbell’s back while he was being restrained.

According to the autopsy, “sitting, lying, kneeling, standing or manually pushing on the back needs to be considered because it may cause mechanical interference with breathing.”

The report continued, “Death via trunk compression typically (takes) a couple minutes, so establishing duration of such restraint, if any, is crucial to the investigation.”
Ginn said he did not see any criminal intent in the case.

“This is a civil litigation,” he said. “The courts would handle this rather than me.”
It was unclear Wednesday if a civil lawsuit will be filed.

Source: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/11/18/1529695/coroner-no-inquest-in-case-of.html

Los Angeles, California: Steven Eugene Washington, 27, shot by police for odd behavior

Steven Eugene Washington, 27

Police Commission overrules chief, says LAPD shooting was wrong
The commission rejects the chief's finding that officers made mistakes but were ultimately justified in killing an unarmed autistic man.

By Joel Rubin, Los Angeles Times
March 5, 2011

The civilian commission that oversees the Los Angeles Police Department has taken the rare step of rejecting a recommendation from the department's chief, ruling that two police officers were wrong when they fatally shot an unarmed autistic man last year.

Police Chief Charlie Beck concluded after a lengthy internal investigation that the officers made serious tactical mistakes during the brief, late-night encounter, but ultimately were justified in using deadly force against Steven Eugene Washington, 27.

About midnight on March 20, Officers Allan Corrales and George Diego, who worked in an anti-gang unit, were driving in a marked patrol car along Vermont Avenue in the city's Koreatown neighborhood. Both officers told investigators they heard a loud noise — which one described as a "deep boom" — behind them, according to Beck's report on the incident.

The Times obtained a redacted version of the report, which conceals the officers' names. Because of the redactions it is not possible to tell what role each officer played in the shooting.

Looking behind them, the officers saw Washington walking on the sidewalk in the opposite direction. They turned the car around and drove slowly behind him. The officer in the passenger seat rolled down his window and called out to the man, the report said. The officer told investigators Washington turned toward him, gave him a "hard" look, then reached into the waistband area of his pants, according to the report.

The officer who was driving pulled up alongside Washington. From a few feet away, his partner saw a dark object tucked into Washington's waistband and, convinced it was a gun, drew his own weapon and pointed it at the man, according to the report.

Washington, according to the officers' account in the report, turned abruptly and began to walk directly toward the patrol car as the driving officer brought the car to a stop. The officer in the passenger seat told investigators Washington had a "blank stare" as if in a daze and ignored orders to raise his hands.

From the car, the officer fired a single shot, then ducked down below the window. The shot struck Washington in the head.

Washington had no weapon. The dark object the officer observed was probably Washington's black cellphone. In describing the shooting, the officer initially told investigators that he had seen the object in Washington's hand and that Washington had pointed it at them as he approached.

Los Angeles County coroner's officials, however, found the cellphone still in its holster attached to Washington's waistband.

When pressed by investigators on whether he actually saw an object in Washington's hand, the officer backed away from his statement, saying, "I — honestly, it was so quick so then I was — it was a split second. You know, I couldn't tell."

After jumping out of the car, the driving officer also fired a single shot a few seconds after his partner fired, according to the report. The officer said Washington was still standing when he fired. Investigators were not able to determine if that was possible.

The shooting drew sharp criticism from Washington's family, who said the man was autistic and fearful of strangers. Civil liberties groups questioned the shooting, suggesting that the officers may have overreacted because they had not observed Washington doing anything criminal.

Based on the investigation's findings, Beck found Corrales and Diego had violated department policies in how they approached and engaged Washington, but decided it was reasonable for them to believe the man had a gun and intended to shoot them.

In a unanimous decision, however, the civilian commission found differently. The panel said Corrales and Diego violated department policies that govern when an officer can use lethal force.

The commission almost always follows the chief's recommendations on cases in which officers use serious force. Since Beck became chief more than a year ago, the panel has overruled him only three times out of dozens of cases.

Beck, who alone can impose discipline, initiated disciplinary proceedings against Corrales and Diego following the commission's finding, according to a senior LAPD official who requested anonymity because discipline cases are confidential. Beck declined to comment.

Paul Weber, president of the union representing rank-and-file officers, said he strongly disagreed with the commission's conclusion.

"I don't know what they expect officers to do," he said. "Wait until one of them is shot before they react?"

A commission report outlining its reasoning on the case is expected to be released early next week.

joel.rubin@latimes.com

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina: CFHS student, Trevor Varinecz, killed suffered from Autism

Trevor Varinecz , age 16

NewsChannel is learning more about the shooting that left a 16-year-old student dead at Carolina Forest High School Friday morning.

Horry County Coroner Robert Edge tells us that Trevor Varinecz was shot five times by School Resource Officer Marcus Rhodes.

One of those gunshot wounds was through the chest and that proved to be fatal.

Police say Varinecz stabbed Officer Rhodes in Rhodes' office at the school Friday morning. The officer responded by shooting Varinecz, who died about an hour later at Conway Medical Center.

Officer Rhodes was treated for stab wounds and released from the hospital around 12:30pm.

NewsChannel 15 did speak with Varinecz's mother, Karen, Saturday.

She told us about her son, saying, "he was a wonderful boy. We can't understand what happened... He was not violent, he was never violent. We just don't know what he was thinking."

She did confirm that her son suffered from Asperger's Syndrome, a form of Autism that can effect a person's emotional and social skills.

Asperger's Syndrome is often considered a high functioning form of autism.

People with this syndrome have difficulty interacting socially, repeat behaviors, and often are clumsy. Motor milestones may be delayed. The main symptom is severe trouble with social situations.

Karen Varinecz noted how Trevor found it challenging to make friends.

Trevor's former cognitive behavioral therapist described to us how Asperger's Syndrome can effect a school-aged child.

James Garvey, high-functioning Autism specialist, noted how young children and teens "try to interact but it's just that they fail to interact appropriately. By the time -- when they get to middle school where the social demands are really heightened to be socially involved, they fail even more. So, they get picked on, they become victims and scapegoats and bullied."

State Education Department spokesman Jim Foster says Friday's incident was the first time a school police officer has killed a student on campus in South Carolina.

Solicitor releases school shooting video, SLED report

December 14, 2009
CONWAY -- The 15th Judicial Circuit Solicitor’s Office released surveillance video and photos from the morning of the Carolina Forest High School shooting-stabbing incident that left one student dead.

Carolina Forest High student Trevor Varinecz, 16, died Oct. 16 after an altercation with Horry County Police Lance Cpl. Marcus Rhodes, the school resource officer.

Surveillance video shows Varinecz wandering through the school's hallways before he met Rhodes and Assistant Principal Frances Gaye Driggers.

According to a voluntary statement given by Rhodes to SLED, Varinecz asked to speak to Rhodes in his office.

Rhodes told SLED Varinecz asked him to close the office door for privacy, then the boy said he was paranoid.

He told Rhodes there was a spider in a corner of the office and asked Rhodes “to take care of it.”

When Rhodes complied and turned his attention to the office corner, he says Varinecz lunged at him with what appeared to be a large knife.

Rhodes said he shouted at Varinecz to drop the knife and yelled to Driggers for help.

Rhodes says he pushed Varinecz into a corner, tried to pull the knife away and began wrestling with Varinecz.

According to the report, both Varinecz and Rhodes had their hands wrapped around the knife. Varinecz then told Rhodes to give him his gun and said "I have no reason to live. Just shoot me."

Rhodes says he told Varinecz he would help him, but the boy seemed determined to kill himself.

Driggers and a few other faculty members by then were at the office door but Rhodes told them not to open the door, since he did not want Varinecz to get out of the room with the knife, according to the investigation.

Rhodes says he was surprised at how strong the boy was and how determined he was to continue the attack so he tried to “short circuit his pattern of thought” and he shot Varinecz in the leg. The investigation shows Varinecz was shot three times in the leg.

Rhodes said at that point, Varinecz became even more difficult to contain and said, "just shoot me."

After Varinecz got one arm free, Rhodes says he felt like he was losing control of the incident and he tried shooting Varinecz in the arm, but then remembered Varinecz stabbing him in the back. The investigation later shows Rhodes was stabbed at least seven times.

Rhodes said he knew Varinecz would have access to his gun, so in order to stop the attack on him or others, he decided he had to shoot Varinecz to end the attack.

According to the investigation, Rhodes shot Varinecz in the chest, pushed him away and the boy fell forward against a storage cabinet.

Rhodes says Varinecz slid down the wall to the floor. At that point a few school employees entered the office and Varinecz said "Thank you sir. Thank you," before losing consciousness

Rhodes says he tried administering CPR before he was relieved by another officer.

The investigation shows there were a total of 10 shots fired by Rhodes.

Five shots hit Varinecz and five missed.

The autospy showed Varinecz died from a single shot to the chest.

The report also said when the autopsy was done, a note was found inside Varincez's pants that read "Check Trevor’s folder on my PC for my last words."

That last word's document was not included in the report given by the solicitor's office.

Photos released by the solicitor's office also show evidence from the shooting-stabbing incident.

Rhodes was cleared of any wrongdoing in the incident by the State Law Enforcement Division and Solicitor Greg Hembree last week.

Stay tuned to News 13 and SCNOW.com to see surveillance video from the incident and more on the investigation reports, once those materials become available.