Patrick, 35, died hogtied in a padded jail cell.

Paper: Houston Chronicle

Date: Thu 10/11/2007

Section: B Page: 2 Edition: 3 STAR

Civil Service board upholds firing in jail inmate's death / Medical worker was negligent, doctor testified

By ROBERT CROWE Staff

The firing of a Houston jail medical specialist for failing to properly treat an inmate who died was upheld this week by the Civil Service Commission.

Supervisors for Ram Chellaram testified that he did not conduct an adequate evaluation on Johnell Patrick in the jail on June 9. Patrick, 35, died hogtied in a padded jail cell.

"If he's reinstated, he will not be working in the jail," said Catherine Troisi, the city's assistant director of disease prevention and control, which oversees jail medical services. "I will not have him on my conscience that he's treating patients."

Chellaram's hearing advocate said his client was made a scapegoat.

"We're very disappointed with the outcome," said Michael LeJune, a former teacher's union representative who argued for Chellaram.

Patrick died from acute cocaine and ethanol toxicity, the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office ruled. Blunt force injuries were also listed in pathological findings, according to the autopsy report, released to the Chronicle on Wednesday. He had multiple contusions with hemorrhage and abrasions on his legs, ankles, wrists, arms, shoulders and back.

Blob on the video

In a jail cell video played at a hearing Tuesday, Patrick can be seen struggling with officers before he is placed in a padded cell. He also rolls around for some time before officers enter and struggle with him. It was difficult to see what the officers were doing because there is a black blob on the video.

Assistant City Attorney Marcus Dobbs told the commission that the blackened portion of the screen was caused by feces on the camera, but Dr. Edward Mazique, the jail's lead physician, later told the Chronicle that dust caused the obstruction.

LeJune told the commission that the blob seemed suspicious because it appears to move and does not have a consistent shape throughout the video.

The Houston Police Department confirmed that it is conducting an internal affairs investigation, but police officials would not comment about the camera obstruction.

"At this point we're not able to elaborate further on the incident until this investigation is concluded," said HPD spokesman Gabe Ortiz.

Mazique testified that Chellaram negligently failed to check Patrick's vital signs and left the man alone and unconscious for two minutes.

Dobbs said Chellaram should have checked Patrick's vital signs when he first saw the inmate at 2:39 a.m. in the cell.

Dobbs said a sergeant told Chellaram that officers wanted to send Patrick to a hospital instead of booking him.

Described as combative

The Houston Police Department said in a July 10 news release that Patrick was combative and acting erratic when he was arrested about 1:20 a.m. after adisturbance call at a home in the 9200 block of Denton.

Chellaram said Patrick was too combative to physically examine when he was hogtied in the cell. The medical specialist said he decided to monitor Patrick for an hour in accordance with bureau policy.

Dobbs said Chellaram did not closely watch Patrick. Chellaram showed poor judgment when he failed to adequately perform CPR after he returned 35 minutes later to find Patrick unconscious, he said.

Chellaram performed chest compressions and called for an ambulance, but he then left Patrick for two minutes, Dobbs said. Chellaram returned with an oxygen tank and two other medical specialists.

They continued CPR, but Chellaram did not perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, he said, because his medical kit did not include a device to separate his mouth from Patrick's. Chellaram said they detected a pulse before Patrick was taken to a hospital, where he died.

Copyright notice: All materials in this archive are copyrighted by Houston Chronicle Publishing Company Division, Hearst Newspapers Partnership, L.P., or its news and feature syndicates and wire services. No materials may be directly or indirectly published, posted to Internet and intranet distribution channels, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed in any medium. Neither these materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use.