Rikers Island Captain Terrence Pendergrass, Convicted For Ignoring Dying Prisoner

[Whisper]

Guilty: Terrence Pendergrass was convicted Wednesday of ignoring a dying inmate.​

[...]
former Rikers Island captain will soon be on the wrong side of the jail cell.
[...]
Terrence Pendergrass guilty Wednesday of ignoring the dying pleas of a mentally ill inmate who had eaten a toxic soap ball.

The burly correction officer slammed his fist on the table and shook his head in disgust as the verdict was read out
[....]
He faces up to 10 years behind bars for denying Jason Echevarria medical care as his insides burned in solitary confinement.

“All he had to do was make a phone call. He didn’t do that. Now he’s getting punished,” said Jason’s younger brother, Bobby Echevarria
[....]
jury deliberated roughly four hours before reaching a verdict.
[...]
former corrections officers testified in the case that they alerted Pendergrass, 50, to Echevarria’s worsening condition on separate occasions. The bipolar inmate was hunched over, vomiting, and asking for medical care after ingesting the powerful soap detergent used to scrub cells
[....]
“Don’t bother me unless someone is dead,”
[...]
said Pendergrass replied after being advised about Echevarria o
[...]
The next day, he was found dead in his cell.

“Echevarria should not have died, and the convictions of individual wrongdoers at Rikers Island – as well as the systemic, institution-wide reforms we are pursuing – should help prevent tragedies like Echevarria’s death from occurring again,
[...]
Attorney Preet Bharara
[...]
Pendergrass’s attorney, Sam Braverman, vowed to appeal. He said his client took the fall for an institution beset by allegations of inmate abuse and corruption.

“A trial is not the way to solve problems at Rikers,”
[...]
the ongoing protests throughout the city regarding police abuse made it difficult for a jury to find Pendergrass not guilty.

“Thousands protesting everyday made it a very tough time for a law enforcement officer to be on trial,”
[...]
Pendergrass had been demoted from captain and suspended without pay. His job status in light of the conviction was not immediately clear.
SOURCE
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/12...onvicted-in-rikers-island-inmates-2012-death/
&
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/18/n...l-rights-violation-in-inmates-death.html?_r=0

Jason Echevarria died in solitary confinement after eating a toxic soap ball used to scrub cells.​

 

[DaggerLawless]

GOOD! Finally one of these fucking thugs gets punished.

 

[Forensicwx]

Um..... Why couldn't any low level officer call for medical? If they found a guy hanging, would they have to find an Lt or Cpt first? Or idk, don't bother this asshole and walk to medical yourself....
With hourly checks in Dis Seg, any other officers aware and not responsive should be held accountable as well.

 

[CbabyRKO]

Two officers and a pharmacist all testified that they had told Mr. Pendergrass that Mr. Echevarria seemed to be very sick when they saw him on Aug. 18, 2012; he was vomiting in his cell and complained of extreme pain.

Mr. Pendergrass told Raymond Castro, one of the officers, “Don’t bother me unless someone is dead,” Mr. Castro told the jury.

The next morning, Mr. Echevarria was found dead in his cell. An autopsy would later reveal that the chemicals had burned through tissue in his mouth, throat and stomach.

The charge against Mr. Pendergrass was deemed a civil rights violation because the due process clause of the 14th Amendment guarantees inmates the right to be free of deliberate indifference to medical needs.

In order to convict, the jury had to find that Mr. Pendergrass had deliberately and willfully acted or failed to act to deprive Mr. Echevarria of his constitutional rights.

“The jury unanimously found that Pendergrass violated Jason Echevarria’s constitutional rights by deliberately ignoring his pleas for help and depriving him of urgent medical care, leaving Echevarria to die alone in his cell,” the United States attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, said in a statement. “Echevarria should not have died, and the convictions of individual wrongdoers at Rikers Island — as well as the systemic, institutionwide reforms we are pursuing — should help prevent tragedies like Echevarria’s death from occurring again.”

The government built its case for willful deprivation with videos of Mr. Pendergrass’s brief visit to Mr. Echevarria’s cell, where, despite the inmate’s deteriorating condition, he reportedly found nothing amiss; his statements to Mr. Castro; and his instructions to another officer to end his phone call to the health clinic.

Ramon Echevarria, Jason’s father, said: “Today is a sad day. Nobody wins and nobody loses. We got justice for my son, and we keep moving on, but we can’t bring him back.

“This man is going to jail and my son is buried. There’s nothing else we can do.”

Mr. Echevarria’s family has sued the city in federal court in Manhattan; Joshua D. Kelner, a lawyer for the family, said the verdict shows that “Mr. Pendergrass operated within a culture where someone with that attitude can be promoted to captain, and where everybody stood by and watched this man do nothing, and held his orders as a fiat.”

Mr. Braverman said he thought the verdict was not supported by the evidence.

He also said that he thought the jury was trying to compensate for other systemic issues at Rikers, which he said should have had no bearing on this case.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/12/1...iolation-in-inmates-death.html?_r=1&referrer=

 

[Dutchesse]

Those two officers and a pharmacist are full of shit. God forbid you take action yourself. If they really believed he was sick they should have done something.

Why on earth would you eat a soap ball though? How did he get it if is is that dangerous? I wonder if they could have saved him at all if the stuff burned through his mouth, throat and stomach. Painful.

 

[Krystal]

Mr. Pendergrass told Raymond Castro, one of the officers, “Don’t bother me unless someone is dead,” Mr. Castro told the jury.

He should have watched what he was asking for, someone did die and now he's going to be "bugged" for quite awhile.