Posts Tagged ‘Conspiracy to Violate Civil Rights’
Cook County Jail Staff Daily Commit Assault with a Deadly Weapon
Jerry Brown, the Attorney General of California has indicted a doctor, a nurse, and a pharmacist for elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon for forcing high doses of psychotropic medications on Alzeimer’s and other patients to shut them up and keep them in a zombie like state. Three patients died due to results of these wrongful acts.
In Illinois it is illegal to involuntarily force psychotropic drugs like Haldol, Zyprexa, Ativan and even Benedryl by injection on patients unless they are an immediate danger to their own life or someone else’s life and then a court order must be obtained to continue the medication involuntarily. Also Haldol has very unpleasant side affects in a large proportion of patients including akisthesia (an inability to stay still – the person has to get up from bed and from sitting down – so the guards will think they are uncooperative and will assault the person even more), dystonia (muscle spasms, involuntary movements, tongue handing out, inability to control muscles of speech so slurred or difficult speech, if it happens with muscles of larynx the person will spasm down the airway and suffocate).
Cook CountyDept. of Corrections (Cook County Jail or CCDOC) officers constantly request nurses to give such medication to shut up complaints by inmates, to quiet them even though they are not harming anyone and are locked in their cells, and in retaliation for disagreements with the officers. Nurses call doctors on the phone and ask for prescriptions and the doctors illegally prescribe the medication without examining the patients. Even if they examine the patients, doctors at CCDOC under the direction of the Director of Psychiatry, Dr. David Carrington, continue to violate ethical standards and the law with such prescriptions when they are not needed and when there has not been adequate evaluations or diagnoses that require such medication. Even if the medications may be indicated, they cannot be given involuntarily except under strict guidelines. Haldol is a dangerous drug that should not be used like a pair of handcuffs and the person must be carefully monitored. It is a drug of last resort, not a weapon of restraint. Anyone using it as a restraint tool should be arrested.
I complained to the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commissions Human Rights Authority Branch that by law must investigate complaints of violations of the Illinois Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code. They sustained my complaint that psychotropic drugs were being given illegally to inmates to shut them up. After the HRA warned Dr. Carrington that this illegal practice must stop, Dr. Carrington and his staff with assistance of the officers are continuing to violate the law. Each act of forcing psychotropic drugs on an inmate/patient without proper diagnosis and without documentation that they are a danger to their own life or the life of others is a class A misdemeanor.
For more details about this “Haldol Menace” see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA2S-oOOJyY&NR=1
A second investigation concerning the illegal involuntary drugging of Mr. More is occurring right now.
Dr. Carrington should be disciplined, his license revoked, the nurse’s involved licenses revoked, and the officers retrained to understand the law and how to properly help in the mental health care of mentally ill persons without assaulting them.
If this was California, Dr. Carrington would be charged with abuse of patients and assault with a deadly weapon and face up to 11 years in prison. Why is State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez doing nothing? Why is the United States Attorney who came to the same conclusion about this medical battery and malpractice doing nothing? We need a public outcry, legislative hearings, and indictments and action by the Illinois Department of Professional Responsibility.
Please complain to:
Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez, Cook County State’s Attorney, 50 W. Washington, Room 500, Chicago, IL 60602,
Patrick Fitzgerald and Joan Laser, Asstant United State’s Attorneys at 219 S. Dearborn, 5 th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604, and
the press.
This barbaric medical battery and abuse must stop! Injection of these drugs into asthmatics or others without careful review of their medical records and careful diagnosis is malpractice, assault with a deadly weapon, and medical battery. It may cause death in certain persons (fatal laryngospasm in asthmatics) and permanent brain injury. Haldol has now been documented to cause brain atrophy in long term use and has a half life of 8 days in the brain – and leads to serious complications in at least half of people it is given to.
Deputy Rebecca Doran, Deputy Maureen Caliendo, Sergeant Patricia McCollum, Assistant Chief Kevin Lyons
Deputy Cook County Sheriffs Rebecca Doran and Maureen Caliendo falsely alleged I battered deputy Doran when she actually battered me, falsely arrested me, and was maliciously prosecuting me from 2002-2005. Assistant States Attorneys Jaime Smith and Jaime Voigt on behalf of then Cook County States Attorney Richard Divine suborned their perjury when they flat out lied on the witness stand at trial.
Judge James L. Rhodes, on August 23, 2005, at trial at the Markham courthouse fortunately saw through their lies and made a finding of not guilty in response to my motion to dismiss for failing to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt at the end of the State’s case in chief and before I put on any witnesses. I had asked for a bench trial [no jury].
Then SA Devine was informed of their perjury, given the evidence, and refused to prosecute them. I have now, in March 2009 informed the new SA Alvarez of their perjury and she probably won’t do anything because the three year statute of limitations for prosecuting them has passed and there is no evidence that she won’t continue to cover-up criminal conduct of deputies who commit perjury.
I am hopeful the U.S. Attorney will indict them as the federal statute of limitations for felony violationn of civil rights under color of law is five years. I have told the FBI recently of this incident.
I was falsely charged with aggravated battery of an officer, when on October 22, 2002, I went to Bridgeview courthouse and was attacked by Deputy Doran when I walked through the security entrance. I had gone to the courthouse to appear in a courtroom with a large briefcase carrying heavy papers on a luggage cart. The deputies knew that I had pending accusations against other Sheriff deputies for misconduct and that I had evidence of corruption against other county officials. They knew I had serious medical problems as I walked with a cane and collapsed twice previously at the entrance, causing them to call an ambulance.
I am disabled due to spinal cord injury and other medical problems and walk with a cane. A week before this incident I had herniated a disc and was told by the doctor not to lift anything more than 5 or so lbs.
When attempting to enter the courthouse I complied with security procedures, but told Deputy Doran and her partner Deputy Caliendo, that I was disabled and unable to lift my briefcase up on the table to be scanned throught the X-ray machine. Deputy Doran said “I’m not your slave,” and “you can’t come in unless you put your bag on the table.” Everybody standing in line backed off a bit because they talked loud and hostile, so I didn’t want to ask anyone to assist me and put the wrath of the deputies against anyone assisting me.
I simply, firmly, and politely, at least three times, told the deputies that the Americans with Disabilities Act REQUIRES them to assist the disabled and modify their procedures. They firmly refused to assist. I was required to be in court, so I had no choice but to try to come in. I did not have my cell phone with me so I could not call my standby public defender or the judge to assist me. Therefore, I told the deputies I would leave my bag at the entrance and go up and ask the judge to order the bag be brought up to the courtroom. The deputies would not allow me to leave my bag at the entrance. So, I told them I was coming through the magnetometer and they could then assist in lifting the bag up closer to the X-ray machine.
When I walked throught he magnetometer, Deputy Doran pushed both my shoulders firmly causing me to lose my balance while starting to fall backwards. [This was an aggravated battery of a handicapped person and a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act] At that point my arms started to flail a bit to get my balance and I saw Deputy Doran raise her right arm as if she was going to hit me so I raised my right arm to block the blow. I had my keys in my right hand that I had removed from the basket I put them in and when she hit my arm she scrapped her inner arm on my keys and received a 2 mm X 3 mm abrasion and a 1 ” red mark on her arm (per ER report).
Then I felt dizzy and blacked out for a few moments. This is not unusual for me as I suffer from some medical problems and this has happened before. (I suffer from a heart condition called malignant neurocardiogenic syncope which causes me to briefly lose consciousness and go into a brief 20-60 sec cardiac arrest,or when stressed to briefly gray out – CPR has been started on me five times including by a State Trooper in the Thompson Center who received an award for saving my life in 2007) The next thing I remember is being about 10 ‘ away from the magnetometer next to a glass wall with deputies surrounding me, my elbows painfully squeezed together firmly behind my back and someone yelling “do you want to charge her,” and then hearing “yes,” and “cuff her.”
At trial on August 23,2005 Deputy Doran and Deputy Caliendo committed perjury as follows quoted directly from the trial transcript:
Q What happened”
DORAN … I asked her to remove her keys and cell phone out of her bag and empty out her pockets into the basket and then to place her bag on the table so it could be screened.
Q And did she do that?
DORAN No.
Q Tell the Court what happened.
DORAN She said that she wanted me to come around and pick up her bag to put on the x-ray machine.
Q … what did you do next?
DORAN I said that’s not our policy, that she needed to do that….
Q After you had that conversation with her, what happened next?
DORAN She became very irate. She started screaming that she wasn’t — that I had to come and do it or she wasn’t — uhm, or she was not going to put her bag on the table herself….I told her that –she said she wasn’t going to get her bag, I said: Then you can’t come in the building….
Q And after she told you she was going to come in anyway, what did she do?
DORAN I said that she could not. And she started, proceeded to grab her cart and to start walking towards the magnetometer….I just stood in the entryway….I just placed myself to block that area so that she would not illegally gain access to the court house….
Q Did you make physical contact with her at any time?
DORAN I did. After she initially made contact with me by trying to push past me.
Q Explain to the Court exactly how she did that?
DORAN She proceeded to insist that she was coming through. I kept telling her: Back up, and she was not coming through until she was searched, and blocked her way through; and she was pushing me.
Q How many times would you say she pushed you?
DORAN It was for at least a minute….I placed my arms up [indicating folding her arms in front of her like a football player] ….
Q What happented next?
DORAN …. Finally, I was able to remove her or just push her backwards, I guess to so to speak, to get her out of the magnetometer by starting to walk while I was blocking, I guess, to walk her backwards to get her out of the magnetometer….I was on the public side….I had her backed onto the glass partition….I got her out and I had taken a step back, and she started swinging….flailing her arms at me with an open fist, making contact with me….
Q Where did she strike you?
DORAN In the arm. Both arms….five or six times….
Q Up to this point, did she ever complain about any physical problems that she may have had?
DORAN No….
Photographs introduced in evidence with a grinning and nearly laughing Deputy Doran showing the inside of her arms, which revealed a pin point red area near the elbow. [ER report said there was a 2 mm X 3 mm abrasion. The judge took off his glasses and said he had difficulty seeing any injury in the picture.
Q BY SHELTON You stated that I was not walking with a cane.
DORAN Not that I'm aware of, no....
Q BY SHELTON Deputy Doran, could you identify what kind of form this is?
DORAN It's a Court Services Department property inventory sheet....[pertaining to prisoner Shelton dated 10/22/02]….
Q BY SHELTON Can you state what it says uinder “miscellaneous” is the first item inventoried?
DORAN Cane….
Q BY SHELTON Did I tell you that it was a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act not to assist a handicapped person?
DORAN No.
Q BY SHELTON Did I tell you that it could be a criminal act of your not to assist a person?
DORAN No, you didn’t….
Q BY SHELTON Deputy, did I place my keys and gold medal in the basket after you requested me to put objects in the basket?
DORAN Yes.
Q BY SHELTON Deputy, would you say that was an attempt to comply with your order to participate in screening?
DORAN It started off to be….
QUESTIONS TO DEPUTY CALIENDO:
Q [As she was coming through the front door] Did the defendant have anything with her when you saw her coming through the door?
CALIENDO Yes, she did….a carrier with a brief case….pulled along with her….Becky advised her that we do not put any type of cases on the table, that she would have do it herself.
Q Did the defendant then comply with the deputy’s request?
CALIENDO No….She got very aggravated, refused to put it on the table….she told Deputy Doran that she was coming in no matter what….
Q What did the defendant do when Deputy Doran stepped inside the magnetomer?
CALIENDO ….she began pushing Deputy Doran….leaning up against her….After a minute or so, then she started swinging her arms at her and striking Deputy Doran….
Q ….was the defendant placed under arrest?
CALIENDO Yes….
Q BY SHELTON Deputy Caliendo, were you aware of any medical problems that I had at the time?
CALIENDO No, I was not.
Q BY SHELTON ….did you notice a cane?
CALIENDO No, I did not….
Q BY SHELTON Under “miscellaneous,” [on the prisoner inventory form] could you pleas read the first possession that was inventoried?
CALIENDO Cane….
Q BY SHELTON Deputy, when I came to the security entrance, Deputy Doran asked me to put things in the basket. Did I put anything in the basket?
CALIENDO I don’t recall….
Q BY SHELTON You recall me telling you that I have back injuries and I cannot or I would permanently injury myself?
CALIENDO No.
Q BY SHELTON Do you recall me telling you that it’s a violation of the American with Disabilities Act not to help a handicapped person?
CALIENDO No, I do not….
Q BY SHELTON On previous occasions where I collapsed at the security entrance and — several previous occasions I think there were two, where an ambulance were called, were you involved in those incidents?….
CALIENDO Yes, I was….I believe I was present at one of them.
ARGUMENT BY SHELTON FOR A DIRECTED FINDING OF NOT GUILTY
I would ask or a directed finding of not guilty. Both of these deputies don’t remember a cane when – - I mean, they’re not credible witnesses. The inventory report shows a cane.
Both these deputies, one of them said, I believe Doran, that I put my keys, my gold medal, in the basket. The other one doesn’t remember it….
Both deputies said they were unaware of any problems. Then Deputy Caliendo said, oh, she was there when I had an asthma attack and an ambulance had to be called. They both seemed to have selective memories. I believe they have not proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt. I think that alone is enough to show that the testimony may not be completely credible….I am clearly handicapped….
JUDGE JAMES RHODES
Well, taking this case in the light most favorable to the State, the Officer says she stood like this, with her arms [indicating folded arms in front of her]. One photo shows no injury to the arm. Now, whether it was this way or this way; but the point being, that the other one said she was doing something with her hands and that it looked like she was swinging; but the photographs and the testimony seem inconsistent.
If the cut is over here, [indicating inside elbow]….standing like this with her arms, and that’s the testimony [arms folded in front of her].
One thing is clear, that if you can wave a wand on a shoe and tell that there’s metal, then you can wave it at a brief case and tell if there’s metal in there. So if you could walk to the metal detector that detects metal, that’s kind of hard to understand why they didn’t just say; Well, walk in here and then we’ll be able to search this bag without exposing our weapons to the public or anything else. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t do this with somebody walking with a cane.
Further, they were thoroughly impeached on the cane issue. They have an inventory for a cane. And they’re saying she just walked normally and perfectly fine, she didn’t have a cane. Ant they inventoried the cane.
So , in the light most favorable to the State, the witnesses were thoroughly impeached, and there will be a finding of not guilty.
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Deputies Doran and Caliendo were supervised by Sgt. Patricia McCollum. They were all supervised by Assistant Chief Kevin Lyons. I believe that Sgt. McCollum and A/C Lyons helped devise the lies told on the stand by Deputies Doran and Caliendo.
I believe Deputies Doran and Caliendo, Sgt. McCollum, and A/C Lyons, along with ASAs Smith and Jamie Voigt should all be charged and convicted of subornation of perjury, falsification of records, official misconduct, conspiracy to violate federal civil rights under color of law, and violation of federal civil rights under color of law. If it is beyond the State statute of limitations of three years for felonies, then the U.S. Attorney should prosecute this case as the federal statute of limitations, I believe, is five years.
