Dent v. Roanoke City Sheriff's Office
| Decision Date | 05 November 2008 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 7:06CV00603. |
| Citation | 585 F.Supp.2d 844 |
| Parties | The ESTATE OF Hezekiah HARVEY, Decedent, by and through his legal representative, Alice Ann DENT, Administrator, Plaintiff, v. ROANOKE CITY SHERIFF'S OFFICE, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Virginia |
Loyd Richard Padgett, Jr., Samuel Joseph Lazzaro, Samuel J. Lazzaro, P.C., Salem, VA, for Plaintiff.
Carlene Booth Johnson, Perry Law Firm, Dillwyn, VA, Elizabeth Martin Muldowney, Rawls & McNelis, P.C., Richmond, VA, for Defendants.
On the night of Saturday, February 4, 2006, Hezekiah Harvey was arrested and taken to the Roanoke City Jail. Three days later, Harvey was transported from the jail to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he went into cardiac arrest and died on February 9, 2006. Alice Ann Dent, Harvey's sister and the administrator of his estate ("the plaintiff'), subsequently filed this civil rights action asserting a variety of claims under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983, 1985, and 1986 and Virginia law. The case is presently before the court on the motion for summary judgment filed by the Roanoke City Sheriffs Office; Sheriff Octavia Johnson; and Deputies Neil Moses, Clinton Phillips, Terry Martin, Todd Francis, Travis Hayslett, and Lewis Kellison (collectively referred to as "the Sheriffs Office defendants"); as well as the motion for summary judgment filed by Prison Health Services, Inc. ("PHS"); Anita Cruff; Tom Berdeen, M.D.; Joann Dunn, R.N.; Kristy Hodges; Tiffany Lloyd; Delilah Browley, L.P.N.; Neil Musselman, M.D.; Teresa Campbell; Rita Dame; and Shannon Shepard (collectively referred to as "the medical defendants"). For the reasons that follow, the court will grant both motions for summary judgment.
The following facts are presented in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. See Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986) ().
In the late evening hours of Saturday, February 4, 2006, Roanoke City police officers arrested Hezekiah Harvey for malicious wounding after Harvey stabbed his girlfriend. The officers took Harvey to the Roanoke City Jail, where he was booked after midnight on Sunday, February 5, 2006.
Deputies at the jail noticed that Harvey had a black eye. When the deputies asked Harvey how he received it, Harvey became wild and hostile. He yelled that his girlfriend had given him the black eye and broken his ribs, that a police officer had planted cocaine on him, and that he should not have been arrested.
Harvey was familiar to many of the jail's deputies, since he had been arrested many times. He often entered the jail acting in a similar manner. After a few days, Harvey normally settled down and became manageable.
Deputies placed Harvey in cell 17, where he continued to act in a disorderly manner. Harvey stopped up the cell toilet with his clothes, and threw feces and toilet paper out of the toilet. When deputies were serving breakfast on the morning of February 5, 2006, Harvey threw feces and toilet paper at the deputies and the kitchen trustees. The deputies shielded themselves and the trustees with mattresses, so that they could finish serving breakfast.
After breakfast, the deputies decided to move Harvey to cell 4 near intake, since it had a solid door that would prevent Harvey from throwing things out of his cell. Sergeant Leo Watkins supervised the cell extraction, and deputies from both the night shift and the day shift assisted with the task. Harvey had taken off all of his clothes, and the deputies used riot shields to protect themselves from the bodily fluids and other materials that Harvey threw at them. When the deputies opened Harvey's cell door, Harvey charged the door and the deputies used the shields to hold Harvey back. Harvey subsequently slipped on the wet floor, and one of the deputies pinned him on the ground with a shield, so that other deputies could gain control of him.
After the deputies placed Harvey in cell 4, Harvey apologized for making a mess.1 Harvey voiced no complaints and none of the deputies observed any sign of injury. Nonetheless, the deputies called the medical department, and Nurse Paige Puckett visited Harvey's cell at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday. Nurse Puckett noted that Harvey had a small abrasion on his right side, and that she could not clean or treat the abrasion because of Harvey's agitated state.2
Shortly after noon on Sunday, February 5, 2006, deputies attempted to serve Harvey a bag lunch. He became combative when the deputies entered his cell, and it took several deputies to gain control of him. During the struggle, Harvey bit Deputy Derek Stokes twice and kicked another deputy in the leg. The deputies called the medical department after the incident, and Nurse Puckett visited Harvey's cell to see if he was injured. Harvey refused to be examined and proceeded to masturbate in front of the nurse.
The plaintiff called the jail on Sunday afternoon and spoke to a male deputy. The plaintiff told the deputy that Harvey was under hospice care and that he needed his medications. When the plaintiff asked if she could visit Harvey, the deputy advised her that she could not visit him, because he was spitting, throwing urine, and wearing no clothes. The plaintiff called the jail again a few hours later and spoke to a nurse. The nurse advised the plaintiff that she would need to call back on Monday and speak to the head nurse.
A new group of deputies began working the day shift on Monday, February 6, 2006 at 6:30 a.m., including all of the deputies named as defendants in the plaintiff's amended complaint. When Master Deputy Neil Moses relieved the prior shift, Moses spoke to a couple of the deputies in the intake area of the jail and heard Harvey beating on his cell door. One of the deputies on the prior shift advised Moses that Harvey had bitten Deputy Stokes. The deputies also mentioned that they had moved Harvey to cell 4 to keep him from throwing feces and urine out of the cell.
When Deputy Moses made his rounds on the morning of February 6, 2006, Moses checked on Harvey and saw that Harvey was completely naked. Harvey called Moses by name and threatened to "throw piss" on Moses. (Moses Decl. pg. 2). Moses noticed that Harvey's cell contained cartons filled with urine and feces, and that Harvey had smeared feces around his cell. Moses subsequently called the medical department to see if Harvey had been examined, because Moses believed that Harvey might have been going through some sort of drug withdrawal, and Moses did not remember ever having seen Harvey behave in such a manner.
Sergeant Terry Martin also spoke with Harvey after Martin came on duty Monday morning. Harvey recognized Martin and called him by name. Because Harvey was completely naked and using a carton to scoop substances out of his toilet to throw around his cell, Martin called the medical department to make sure that the medical personnel were aware of Harvey's behavior. The medical personnel advised Martin that they had checked on Harvey over the weekend, and that they were aware of his behavior. Deputy Clinton Phillips also contacted the medical department after Phillips saw Harvey aggressively hit his cell door and window with his head and hands. In addition, Deputy Phillips made rounds with a PHS nurse, so that he could make sure that the nurse observed Harvey's behavior.
The deputies who worked the day shift on Monday decided to clean Harvey's cell, because they were afraid that Harvey would slip and fall on the urine and feces in the cell. Several deputies, including Sergeant Martin, Deputy Moses, Deputy Phillips, and Sergeant Todd Francis, eventually moved Harvey out of his cell so that it could be cleaned. During the extraction, Harvey was combative. He tried to bite Deputy Phillips and he attempted to spit on Deputy Moses. The deputies tried to persuade Harvey to get dressed, but Harvey refused to put on any clothes.
At approximately 10:00 a.m. on Monday, Joann Dunn, a registered nurse, attempted to talk to Harvey.3 Nurse Dunn noted on Harvey's interdisciplinary progress chart that Harvey was yelling and banging on his cell door, that he had smeared feces on the cell window, and that he was completely undressed and masturbating. Nurse Dunn also noted that she would refer Harvey to the psychiatrist.
When Nurse Dunn checked on Harvey again on Monday afternoon, his behavior had not changed. Consequently, Nurse Dunn called Dr. Neil Musselman, PHS's staff psychiatrist for the jail. Dr. Musselman prescribed Haldol, an antispsychotic medication, as well as a medication for anxiety. Nurse Dunn "knew [Harvey] had a psychiatric history," and "felt that if [they] got antipsychotic medication on board in his system that it wouldn't be a necessity at that point to get him to a hospital." (Dunn Dep. pgs. 13, 25).
Harvey was supposed to begin taking the medications immediately. When Nurse Dunn attempted to administer Harvey's morning dose of Haldol to him on Tuesday, February 7, 2006, Harvey spat the medication in the toilet.4 That same morning, Nurse Dunn received a telephone call from the plaintiff. The plaintiff advised Nurse Dunn that Harvey had been in hospice care for various medical problems, that he had been given approximately six months to live, that he had been hit by a car a couple of weeks prior to his arrest, and that he needed his medications.
Based on this new information and Harvey's behavior, Nurse Dunn asked the PHS mental health counselor, Kristy Hodges, to contact Carilion Hospice and request information regarding Harvey's treatment. Hodges also called Emergency Outreach Services to inquire as to whether the organization had recently seen Harvey....
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