Boy in coma; cops' hogtie under probe
Restrained by police as his family
watched, a disabled 18-year-old lies in a coma at a Coral Gables
hospital. The family says he was `hogtied.'
December 16, 2006
By Carl Marbin Miller
It wasn't the first time the
Colindres family had to call police because their severely autistic
son, Kevin, had become aggressive.
Twice before, Miami police took the
18-year-old to a psychiatric hospital for treatment.
But Tuesday night, the family says,
officers specially trained to calm people with mental illness
''hogtied'' Kevin, sat on him until he stopped breathing, then
resisted the family's entreaties to call an ambulance.
Kevin Colindres is now in a coma,
in intensive care at Coral Gables Hospital.
''He is considered brain dead,''
said the family's attorney, Stuart Grossman. ``All this as a result
of asking for help.''
Colindres' three siblings watched
the confrontation, said Melvin Colindres, the teen's father. The
siblings have been unable to work or go to school. The family has
held a round-the-clock vigil in Kevin's hospital room.
''They saw everything,'' said
Melvin Colindres, 37. ``We were shocked. . . . I hope this will
never happen again to a normal child, much less to a child with a
disability.''
Angel Calzadilla, executive
assistant to Miami Police Chief John Timoney, said the actions of
the Crisis Intervention Team -- officers trained to deal with the
mentally ill -- are under investigation.
The department declined Friday to
make the incident report public. Calzadilla also declined to name
the officers involved.
Calzadilla said Miami police
interviewed Kevin's parents and siblings who were present and added:
``There were no allegations at any point of wrongdoing by the
officers.''
''At no time was it alleged that
[Kevin Colindres] was thrown down,'' Calzadilla said. ``Officers
used great care to bring him to the ground.''
Calzadilla said officers did not
hogtie Colindres. A hogtie is a method of restraining a suspect by
binding hands to feet behind the back.
Calzadilla said Colindres was
restrained with a leather device officers call a ''hobble.'' He said
it allows a greater distance between the hands and feet than a
hogtie.
In the early and mid-1990s, several
large departments, including San Diego and the Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Office, banned hog-tying because of concerns of
''positional asphyxiation'' -- the position of the body makes it
impossible to breathe.
A federal court ruled in 2001 that
police cannot use hogties on people ''with diminished capacity,''
ruling in the death of a Laramie, Wyo., man in custody, but the case
is not binding in Florida.
In April, the FBI Law Enforcement
Bulletin advised: ``Officers should consider restraining methods,
such as hogtying, as a last resort.''
''Certainly, hogtying is not
permitted at most police departments,'' Dr. Michael Baden, a New
York State Corrections Commission's Medical Review Board member and
ex-chief New York City medical examiner, told The Miami Herald. ``I
would have thought the city of Miami would frown upon hogtying
because it is so dangerous, and it causes people either to die or
become brain-damaged.''
Kevin has autism, an
often-debilitating neurological disorder that can leave children and
adults socially isolated and extremely difficult to manage. His
family says the teen has the intellectual capacity of a 4-year-old.
The incident Tuesday night began
when Kevin's mother tried to get him and three siblings ready to
attend a Jehovah's Witness Bible study and meeting. Kevin did not
want to go, Grossman said, and ended up in an altercation with his
mother, Alma Colindres, 40. One of his sisters called police.
Police records show the call was
logged in as an ''emergency'' request for help, with the family
reporting an autistic 18-year-old ''was having a violent episode and
hitting everyone in the home,'' Calzadilla said. Dispatched at 6:47
p.m., officers arrived 15 minutes later, he said.
A female officer was first,
Grossman said, and calmed Kevin before three or four backup officers
arrived. The confrontation then worsened, Grossman said.
Kevin ended up outside the home on
a neighbor's lawn scuffling with the officers, Grossman said. His
wrists were restrained behind his back with metal handcuffs. His
legs were tied with a leather strap that was looped through the
handcuffs. An officer held the strap, Grossman said, and could pull
on it to reduce the slack.
''Imagine being on the ground in a
device that looks like a dog's leash,'' Grossman said. ``An officer
is standing over him holding that leash.''
Calzadilla said officers used the
hobble device because he ``was still thrashing around and kicking.''
Calzadilla declined to discuss
precisely what happened after officers restrained the teen, saying
only: ``The subject stopped breathing.''
According to Melvin Colindres and
Grossman, two or three officers were on top of Kevin as he lay on
his stomach. When Colindres arrived home, his son was in the hobble
device and appeared calm.
The hobble strap, Colindres said,
''was really tight,'' and his son was not moving. ``I just ran to
him, and I was rubbing his head. I told him that I was there, that
his dad was there.''
Kevin was bleeding from his chin,
and Colindres went to get a towel, he said. When he returned, his
wife was frantic. 'She screamed, `Mel! Mel! Kevin is not breathing!'
'' Colindres said. ' `Do something. He is dead.' ''
Officers told the family that Kevin
was merely ''exhausted,'' Colindres said. When one officer got up
off the teen, another took his place.
Colindres said he told police his
son did not look right. ''That's not normal; he's not breathing,''
the father said he told an officer. 'He said to me: `Are you a
doctor?' ''
Another 10 minutes passed before
officers called for an ambulance, Colindres said, and then another
five minutes before paramedics arrived.
Calzadilla said officers had begun
CPR.
Melvin Colindres said his family
has been trying to cope with the tragedy ''as best we can,'' but
every moment brings fresh anguish.
Kevin would greet his father every
night when he returned home from his chef's job or look out the
window for his dad's car. ''He would expect me to take him out for a
ride,'' Colindres said.
''I have a lot of faith in my
God,'' Colindres said. ``My belief is giving me the strength to help
my family realize the situation we're going through. This is a
difficult situation. But the days to come will be harder.''
Miami Herald staff writer Susannah
Nesmith contributed to this report.
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