June 26, 2007 12:12 PM UTC

How 'bout a paragraph or two for Emily Rice?

•  
• by: tiltawhirl

The Denver Post, The Westword and the Rocky Mountain News all report that the parents of 24-year-old Emily Rice, who was jailed immediately after receiving treatment by Denver Health, following a car accident on February 18, 2006, has filed suit against the City of Denver.
  Emily’s blood alcohol was 0.121%, slightly above the legal limit.  Allegedly, she begged for treatment during her very brief stay at the jail, where the treating nurse mocked her and ordered to get up from the floor and “stop being dramatic.” Later that night, Emily’s pleas became so urgent that other inmates began screaming and banging on the glass to get guards’ attention, but she was never evaluated, according to the lawsuit filed by her family.  Her mother, Susan Garber, said she tried to bail Emily out of jail at about 6:45 p.m. but, was disallowed from seeing her. Hours later, her child was found dead, face-down in her cell.
  An internal investigation by the sheriff’s department remains under administrative review, said independent monitor Richard Rosenthal.  In his 2006 annual report, Rosenthal described the investigation as incomplete because Denver Health nurses who work at the jail would not cooperate.
  I’ve previously called attention the fate of passers-through in our state’s county jails. (see, e.g., here).  Sometimes, a lapse in good judgment and an unplanned trip to jail becomes an unplanned trip to the morgue, followed by an unplanned one-way trip to the funeral home.
  I wonder, was this 24-year-old daughter extended the same compassion and understanding for her mistake[s] that led to her arrest (recall the mantra we’ve been pummeled with these last few days: “innocent until proven guilty”), which is now being extended posthumously to Larry Manzares?

So, what we appear to have in this case is apparent evidence spoliation, negligence resulting in death, falsification of records by city employees and law enforcement, refusal to cooperate with an investigation for the truth and, of course, an “indepedent” investigator, who is supposed to provide transparency of Denver government, who claims to be limited by confidentiality, ethics rules and jurisdiction.