Sheriff’s investigators have determined that an inmate at the El Paso County jail died while in custody after a “panic” button in a court holding cell failed to work.
As a result, it took 15 minutes for sheriff’s deputies to reach Bruce Raymond Howard after he suffered a seizure and keeled over on a concrete bench, according to his family, who filed a wrongful death lawsuit against El Paso County and several contractors last week.
Howard, 67, died Nov. 10, 2008, of cardiac arrhythmia. He was in custody while awaiting a court hearing on third-degree assault and harassment charges stemming from a domestic violence incident involving his wife, Georgeanna, at their Fountain home.
On Wednesday, Howard and her two daughters filed suit in U.S. District Court in Denver.
Attached to the lawsuit as an exhibit were copies of investigative reports by the Sheriff’s Office.
According to the lawsuit:
• Howard did not receive adequate medical attention after his arrest.
• Deputies missed several warning signs of his deteriorating health, including profuse sweating and hallucinations.
• The malfunction of the alarm in a sub-basement holding area known as “the fishbowl” was the result of work being done at the time on the asbestos abatement program.
