Paper: Houston Chronicle

Date: Wed 04/23/2008

Section: B Page: 1 Metfront Edition: 3 STAR R.O.

Kin seek answers in inmate's death / Sister, widow say they don't believe that Freeman started jail confrontation

By PEGGY O'HARE, CINDY GEORGE, MIKE TOLSON

Staff

The sister and widow of Clarence Freeman believe there is more to the story of how he died. Much more.

Freeman was involved in an altercation with a guard at Harris County Jail on New Year's Day. The injuries that ultimately led to his death were inflicted in the course of subduing him. Jail officials say Freeman started the confrontation.

Two of the people who knew him best are skeptical.

"He had been incarcerated before and he knew the rules," said Cherry Bradley, Freeman's common-law wife since 2001. "He was not a dangerous villain. Him fighting a guard or hitting him in the face? I don't believe it. Somebody else in that jail besides Clarence and that guard knows what happened."

Pamela Griffith also wants answers. She has a hard time reconciling the healthy, upbeat brother she had seen less than two months earlier with the bruised, swollen and comatose figure that confronted her at LBJ Hospital on Jan. 4.

"I really thought he was going to pull through," said Griffith, 50, the eldest of eight siblings. "He should have been celebrating his 43rd birthday last week and instead, he's dead. I just want to see something done about it. There's more involved here and I want to get to the bottom of it."

Freeman, 42, was serving a two-year state jail sentence for writing a hot check. Due for release in September, he was brought to Harris County Jail from the state facility in Travis County last summer because he was a witness in a murder case that was to soon go to trial. Freeman had witnessed a shooting in front of a convenience store where he worked. The case is still scheduled for trial.

Freeman was pronounced dead on Jan. 10 after being removed from life support. His injuries reportedly were the result of a clash with a county jail detention officer about a food tray. His death has been ruled a homicide.

The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office found that Freeman died from respiratory failure following neck compression. Doctors found he had developed a blood clot. The autopsy report is not yet complete.

His death will be reviewed by a Harris County grand jury, customary for all cases involving police use of force that result in death.

Protest rally

Local activist Quanell X is not waiting for that review before taking his case to the streets. He and several black organizations have scheduled a protest rally at 3 p.m. Sunday outside the county jail at 701 San Jacinto to demand an outside investigation into Freeman's injuries and the environment in which they took place.

"The jail has become a place to go to die," Quanell X said.

Seven inmates, including Freeman, have died while in Harris County Jail custody in 2008. Sixteen inmates died while in custody last year. Only one - Freeman - has been ruled a homicide. Many are still pending.

The detention officer, whose name the Harris County Sheriff's Office has refused to release, remains on duty but is temporarily reassigned.

Griffith, Freeman's sister, wants the officer sent home until the investigation is completed. She also wants to see him stand trial.

"I want him not to be going to work every day because my brother is not going to work," she said. "There are a lot of allegations about things going on in the Harris County Jail. I think they've been getting away with a lot of stuff, and I think they just do what they want to do."

Freeman, who had a lengthy criminal history, preferred the county lockup to the state jail in Austin because he was closer to his family, said Bradley, Freeman's widow. He was expected to testify this summer in the murder trial of Marquis Devale Samples, 30, who was charged with shooting Patrick Charles Murphy, 20, outside the A-Mart store in the 7100 block of Parker near Homestead.

Samples' trial has been delayed several times. As a result, Freeman ended up staying longer than intended at the Harris County Jail at 701 San Jacinto.

New Year's Day events

The incident that led to his death occurred on New Year's Day when Freeman, while in a general population cell block, demanded a second tray of food, sheriff's officials said. Family members said they have been told he was promised the extra food for working an extra shift.

When the detention officer refused, Freeman became confrontational and asked to file a grievance, said sheriff's Lt. John Denholm. The officer, with a sergeant's permission, then tried to move Freeman to an isolation cell so the inmate could file his grievance.

During the walk to the other cell, Freeman became more confrontational, Denholm said. When the officer told him to get up against a wall, Freeman refused, and moments later used his elbow to strike the officer in the face. The officer then forced Freeman to the ground.

That led to a struggle in an area outside the isolation cell lasting less than a minute, during which Freeman was handcuffed. Sheriff's officials would not release specific details about that struggle, citing the ongoing investigation. No surveillance cameras were in the area.

The only witness, another detention officer, rounded the corner and saw both men on the ground. He helped the other officer handcuff Freeman while the inmate was on his stomach, Denholm said, and then both helped him to his feet and escorted him to the jail's medical clinic, where he complained he was having trouble breathing, records show.

Freeman was able to write a statement giving his version of events. The clinic staff recommended Freeman be taken to a hospital, but sheriff's Lt. John Legg did not know why.

Died in intensive care

Once at LBJ Hospital, Freeman's medical condition deteriorated, prompting doctors to move him to an intensive care unit, according to a custodial death report filed by the sheriff's department with the Texas Attorney General's Office. Freeman went into respiratory distress and developed a blood clot. On Jan. 9, doctors declared him to be brain-dead, and the next day, after consultations with Bradley, he was removed from life support.

"He looked nothing like my brother laying there," said Griffith. "He was brought to Harris County for a reason, but was he brought here for his own murder? Was he brought there to be murdered?"

Freeman had been jailed in years past as well, with charges ranging from minor theft to aggravated robbery. Bradley said most of his troubles with the law were rooted in drug abuse.

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