PORTLAND — Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts has criticized “callous comments” that three of his deputies made on cellphone videos while an inmate was in a padded jail cell and flailing around uncontrollably from a drug overdose.
The inmate 31-year-old Bryan Perry, later died.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports he said two of the deputies were disciplined and the third who took the videos resigned. The sheriff didn’t describe the type of discipline.
“The laughter, substance and tone of several comments heard from my employees in that video were inappropriate and do not conform to our professional standards,” Roberts said in a statement.
He also apologized to the inmate’s family in his statement, now nearly two years after the encounter.
The sheriff released two videos a day after The Oregonian/OregonLive made a public records request for them and wrote about a wrongful death lawsuit filed this week in U.S. District Court in Portland by the inmate’s mother and estate.
The suit referenced the videos showing Perry as he was locked in a padded cell at Clackamas County Jail after his probation violation arrest on Nov. 3, 2016.
The suit alleges the county deputies and medical staff from Corizon Health Inc., the jail’s medical contractor, violated Perry’s civil rights when they failed to properly screen Perry, get him prompt medical attention, adequately check on him or send him to a hospital.
Perry arrived at the jail about 7:15 p.m. Four hours later, he was unresponsive and rushed to a hospital in cardiac arrest. He was pronounced dead at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center at 12:16 a.m. the next morning. The cause of his death was methamphetamine toxicity.
The lawsuit also seeks punitive damages, alleging the county and Corizon Health “callously disregarded” Perry’s physical safety and were grossly negligent and reckless.
