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City sued over restrained teen's coma

Miami police disputed the use of a controversial restraint on a disabled teen as the man's parents filed a lawsuit, which says the restraint caused `irreparable brain damage.'

December 19, 2006
By Carol Marbin Miller

The parents of a disabled teen who stopped breathing after Miami police restrained him earlier this month filed suit against the city of Miami on Monday, claiming police ''hogtied'' their son outside their home, then put pressure on his back and shoulders.

Both practices -- hogtying and applying pressure -- can cause people to stop breathing, the suit claims.

But Police Chief John Timoney, speaking for the first time about the incident, vigorously denied officers had used the controversial restraint on Kevin Colindres, 18, who was left in a coma.

''At no time was Kevin hogtied,'' Timoney told reporters during a news conference Monday. He did not address whether officers had applied pressure to Colindres' body.

Timoney, flanked by two assistants, expressed sympathy to Kevin's family, which witnessed the Dec. 12 incident.

''We want to offer our deepest sympathy and prayers to the whole family, the Colindreses and young Kevin, who is in the hospital on life support,'' Timoney said. ``Our prayers go out to him and his family. This is, indeed, a tragic incident.''

The police department has refused to release its report on the encounter to The Miami Herald, and Timoney declined to answer questions from the media. The department has launched an Internal Affairs investigation, which is not expected to be complete for several days, Timoney said.

Kevin Colindres, who suffers from severe autism, became combative with his mother and other family members shortly before 7 p.m. Dec. 12, prompting a sister to call police. It was the third time the Colindres family had turned to Miami police for help when Kevin had become aggressive.

The first officer, a woman, arrived at the Colindres' Flagami home at 7:02, Timoney said. In several respects, his version of that night's events differs markedly from the description given by Kevin's father, Melvin Colindres, to The Miami Herald last week.

Timoney acknowledged that Kevin had calmed down, and was sitting on a couch with his mother, by the time the first officer arrived. But one of Kevin's sisters insisted Kevin be taken to a crisis center to be stabilized, Timoney said, and the officer requested backup. When other officers arrived, Kevin bolted from the couch and slipped on the floor, Timoney said. The Colindreses' suit says officers grabbed Kevin and threw him to the floor when he started to rise from the couch.

Later, Kevin was sitting on a sidewalk, handcuffed, waiting for paramedics who had been called to examine him after the fall, Timoney said, when he became agitated again. While an officer held the teen's ankles, another officer retrieved an ankle restraint device, called a ''hobble,'' which was used to tie the teen's feet together.

The device was necessary, Timoney said, to stop Kevin from ``flailing and kicking.''

Timoney denied the family's contention that officers waited 10 minutes before calling paramedics after Kevin had stopped breathing. An ambulance arrived at 7:30, he said. A Crisis Intervention Team officer, specially trained to deal with people with mental illness or disabilities, did not arrive until after Kevin had been restrained.

''We tried as much as possible to humanely restrain Kevin,'' Timoney said.

But Melvin Colindres, who arrived home from his chef job after Kevin already was restrained, and the family's attorney, Stuart Grossman, offered a darker description of events that night, saying officers exercised no care in dealing with a teen whose neurological disorder left him with the intellect of a 4-year-old.

Said Grossman: ``The people who needed to be restrained that night were the city police officers. That's the sad thing about it.''

In their lawsuit, which names the city of Miami and Timoney individually, parents Melvin and Alma Colindres called the officers -- for whom Timoney provided only surnames -- ``belligerent and confrontational.''

Colindres and Grossman have insisted that Kevin was hogtied by officers, who then put their weight on his back, shoulders and legs. In an interview last week, Colindres said police for 10 minutes ignored his demand to call an ambulance after it appeared Kevin had stopped breathing.

According to the lawsuit, many police departments have banned hogtie-type restraints, which can cause brain damage and death when detainees are deprived of oxygen for prolonged periods.

Fighting back tears, Melvin Colindres said doctors have offered little reason for optimism about Kevin's chances. The father said Kevin is in a persistent vegetative state.

''Kevin is in a coma. His organs are deteriorating as we speak,'' Colindres told reporters at Grossman's Coconut Grove office Monday afternoon.

''Kevin can recover; that's our hope,'' Colindres said. But, a moment later, he added: ``I thought hope is something you never lose. But the doctors have just told me there is no hope.''