Belligerent Man Dies in Police Custody

Los Angeles:  A 53-year-old man died at a local hospital after being transported by paramedics.

On February 16, 2008, at around 9:40 a.m., North Hollywood Area patrol officers responded to a Fire Department assistance call in the 11300 block of Camarillo Street at a methadone clinic.  Patrol officers assisted the firemen with Eddie Scott, who was lying on a bathroom floor, incoherent, belligerent, and unable to get up, because he had an amputated leg and had not taken his medication.  Officers managed to carry Scott and place him onto a gurney.

Scott continued to be aggressive and violent, and tried to get off the gurney after being placed on soft restraints by the firemen, consequently Officer Bryan Hoefler and Officer Franklin Geraty handcuffed Scott’s hands to each side of the gurney to prevent him from breaking free.  A rescue ambulance transported Scott to a local hospital.

Once at the hospital, the officers removed the handcuffs and the emergency room personnel treated Scott for his medical condition. Scott failed to respond to his treatment and was pronounced dead by the attending physician.

The cause of death is unknown, pending an autopsy by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office.

Force Investigation Division personnel are investigating this incident as an In-Custody Death.

Comments

[Morgaine]

My coworker just had a suggestion. Perhaps we should have airborne trauma centers (one of those beautiful new airships seats 15) and take the medical team to the accident/emergency. This post has nothing to do with the article. Sorry. But with County Supervisors considering closing County medical facilities, too few trauma centers now anyway, and the eternal, infernal gridlock making emergency transport excruciatingly slow, her idea makes sense.

[b&w; op]

As I understand it, the officers removed the handcuffs from the patient's arms and the gurney and left the hospital before the the patient died.

Am I missing something here?????? Why is this an IN-CUSTODY death???? The officers were just assisting LAFD and did not arrest the patient.

Oh, I'm sorry. How could I have been so forgetful? Any time the LAPD is within 100 yards of any event, it's ALWAYS our fault. The LAFD doesn't have IN-CUSTODY events. Ever.

Back to stupid status.

[Skell Seeker]

They should donate his body to science fiction.....

Thanks FD for not handling your own matter (again).

Why do you guys lift weights if you are too scared to handle a one-legged mope?

God created PD so FD would have heroes.

L.A.F.D.
Los Angeles Fear Department

[pdhog]

It is getting out of control...last year in Van Nuys two patrol coppers were flagged down by a ctz concerning a sick man at a bus stop. Officers requested an RA and found the dude was already dead (later found to be from an apparent heart attack). It was treated as an "In Custody Death"!!!! I can understand an ICD Inv if force was used or if the death occured in the patrol car/holding tank/jail/etc. but this is ridiculos.

[George]

If you can't take the Heat get out of the kitchen....LAFD is looking for a few good men....

[Hollywatts]

On this Department, if you are near someone when they die, or just driving by, it is an In-Custody Death! It has gotten out of hand, just like dog shootings used to be, send the world to investigate.

[Jennie]

It was classified as an in-custody death so that the family will have an easier time settling their lawsuit against the LAPD for a wrongful death.

I can't wait for the next of kin to hold their press conference with their lawyers, wailing about how the LAPD killed their Daddy. He was such a good family man, a good father, a hard worker, a good provider. Ex-con? Parolee? Wanted fugitive and wife beater? All of that was in the past, and he was walking on the road to a righteous life when the LAPD shot him dead for no good reason.

[J Q Public]

With all the monday morning investigators here, it makes me wonder why LAPD is wasting money on a Force Investigation unit. Just have the anonymous posters start filing reports from the privacy and comfort of their own home.

I guess if a PD shoots someone, who is then taken to the hospital, as long as it was the FD that transported the patient then it's the FD's fault the pt died.