Relatives of a man who died after collapsing at the Dauphin County booking center where he was taken after ingesting crack cocaine have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the county and Harrisburg Police Department seeking at least $35 million.
The lawsuit stemming from the December death of Terelle Thomas, 31, accuses city police and county probation and jail employees of failing to seek medical attention for Thomas after officers believed he had ingested a “large amount of cocaine.”
Instead, the lawsuit claims, Thomas was booked into jail, against police department policy, even though at least four officers and jail medical staff were notified that he was suspected of ingesting cocaine and had white powder on his face.
At the booking center, Thomas collapsed within an hour of being placed in a cell. Video surveillance recorded him falling backward and hitting his head on the floor. He suffered cardiac arrest and “coded” on the floor with white powder still on his lips, according to the lawsuit.
Attorneys Kevin Mincey and Riley Ross, of the Philadelphia law firm Mincey Fitzpatrick Ross, announced the lawsuit Friday morning outside the federal courthouse with members of Thomas’ family, including his mother, father and sisters, including his twin sister. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Thomas 6-year-old daughter.
“How many more, especially black civilians, must die due to a wrongful death before reform and justice will be served?” said Sherelle Thomas, Terelle’s twin sister.
The mother of Terelle’s child, Theresa Bell, said Terelle loved his daughter.
“Not a day went by that he didn’t talk to his daughter or spend time with her,” Bell said. “She misses her dad everyday.”
Terelle L. Thomas, 31, died Dec. 17. His funeral services were scheduled for Christmas Eve.
City officials previously have acknowledged that police department policy calls for officers to take people under arrest to a hospital rather than the booking center if they have consumed illegal narcotics in a way that could jeopardize their health and welfare. Police officials said that Thomas repeatedly denied that he had consumed any narcotics.
On Friday, Mincey said city officials are claiming that officers didn’t know that Thomas had ingested narcotics.
Court records filed by Police Officer Daril Foose, however, noted Thomas’ consumption as the basis for two criminal charges against Thomas. A charge of felony drug trafficking was supported by the fact Thomas “was found in possession of crack cocaine inside of his mouth and where he was seated inside the vehicle.”
Foose justified a misdemeanor tampering charge against Thomas by writing that he “was observed consuming crack cocaine in order to conceal it from police.”
Notations in her police report said that Thomas lips were “pasted white;” he had something in his mouth; and his face was covered in a white powdery substance.
Thomas denied to police that he had ingested anything dangerous and instead said he just ate a white candy cigarette. But as a probation officer was searching Thomas, several “small crack cocaine rocks” fell out of his shirt, according to a police report. Police also found “multiple crack cocaine rocks” on the seat and floor inside the car where Thomas had been sitting.
Police found found no candy cigarette package.
“They can’t say that they didn’t know,” Mincey said. “(Officer Foose) wrote it up enough and signed it under penalty of perjury to think that he did (swallow drugs.)”
Foose’s police report ended with an update that Foose had been advised that Thomas had a “seizure” at the booking center and was taken to a hospital.
“I was advised that Lifeteam personal (sic) that they sucked 40 ml of cocaine out of Thomas while enroute to the hospital that he had ingested.”
Forty milliliters is equivalent to nearly three tablespoons.
Foose has since left the Harrisburg Police Department to work for another law enforcement agency, Mincey said.
The lawsuit provided this narrative for the night Thomas was arrested:
On Dec. 14, Officer Foose saw Thomas and another man walk from the area of a bar and enter a vehicle as passengers about 6:15 p.m. Foose followed the vehicle and pulled over the driver at 17th and Holly streets.
Foose observed Thomas had a large amount of something in his mouth. She told her partner, from the probation department, that she believed Thomas was hiding something in his mouth.
In her police report, she noted his lips were pasty white; his tongue and spit were white; there was a large amount of ‘paste’ inside his mouth and his face was covered in a white powdery substance.
At 6:22 p.m., a police supervisor arrived at the scene. The probation officer told the supervisor that Thomas had ingested crack cocaine, according to the lawsuit.
At that same time, another police officer arrived and Foose told her that Thomas had ingested cocaine. That officer also noticed a white powder on Thomas’ lips. A third backup officer arrived, who also noted the white residue on his lips and Foose told him she believed Thomas had eaten crack cocaine.
At 6:47 p.m., a police officer arrived to drive Thomas to the booking center. He was told by Foose that she suspected he had swallowed crack, according to the lawsuit.
Upon arriving at the booking center, the transport officer told prison staff members and medical staff that Thomas may have swallowed cocaine. Medical staff also noticed white powder on his lips but cleared him to stay at the prison.
At 7:13 p.m., Thomas was placed into a cell. At 8:04 p.m., he collapsed. At 8:24 pm., he was transported by ambulance to a hospital, where he remained hospitalized for three days, when he died.
His cause of death was determined to be cocaine and fentanyl toxicity, according to the coroner.
“Despite the suspicions of numerous law enforcement personnel that decedent Thomas had swallowed a dangerous drug, Decedent Thomas was never transferred from the Dauphin County Booking Center to the nearest hospital for emergency medical treatment,” the lawsuit said.
In police reports attached to the lawsuit as exhibits, several officers noted that they repeatedly warned Thomas to tell the truth about whether he swallowed anything and that they didn’t notice any signs of medical distress.
“I advised him that if he did ingest something we needed to know so that we could inform medical staff because he could possibly die,” Officer Scott Johnsen, wrote in his report. “Thomas again insisted that he did not ingest anything.”
Officer Adrienne Salazar wrote: “I informed him that it was important for us to know what he ingested for his safety in the event that it would have any ill affect (sic) on his health. He refused to tell me what he ingested.
“During my interaction with Mr. Thomas he appeared conscious and was able to speak with me in a coherent manner,” Salazar wrote. “I asked him on two separate occasions if he was feeling okay and he stated that he was okay. I closely observed him while on scene and his condition did not appear to worsen.”
A third officer, Travis Banning, wrote: “I assisted Officer Foose with completing the search of the vehicle. Crack cocaine was in plain view on the rear passenger seat. There was no box of candy cigarettes to my knowledge that were located inside of the vehicle or on Thomas’ person. While I was on scene, Thomas never stated that he ate crack cocaine, and he did not act as if he was under the influence of anything, or seemed to becoming ill.”
The lawsuit attacks the training provided by the police department and booking center in recognizing dangerous health issues and medical emergencies among people under arrest. Riley said the comments by a series of officers reveal that they knew the situation could be life-threatening, yet they still didn’t take Thomas to a hospital.
“It’s not just the officer doing the act, it’s also the officers standing around, allowing it to happen,” he said. “Our claims of failure to intervene get at that."
The lawsuit alleges seven specific federal claims, including negligence and wrongful death. The lawsuit said the series of officers and prison staff members:
- Deprived Thomas of his rights guaranteed under the 4th and 14th amendments by denying him medical care
- Failed to render medical care, and;
- Failed to intervene to “stop the denial of medical care or otherwise bring it to a halt.”
- And that the city and county failed to train, supervise, control or discipline its employees.
Each of the seven counts concluded with a paragraph seeking relief in excess of $5 million for each count.
Other named defendants in the lawsuit include Harrisburg Officer Brian Carriere and Dauphin Probation Officer Dan Kinsinger. The lawsuit also names a number of “John Doe” police officers and prison officials.
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