PHILADELPHIA - The City of Philadelphia has lost its attempt to toss out of court a lawsuit that alleges police left a one-legged man to die in jail.
Judge Kelley Hodge on Feb. 10 ruled against the City, which argued the complaint brought by the Estate of Antonio Almanzar Perez failed to state a so-called Monell claim. Those involve government policies that lead to injury, and the lawsuit seeks compensation for wrongful death.
Two news articles submitted by the plaintiff summarized relevant deliberate indifference cases against Philadelphia.
"Plaintiff now knows that the City was hiding a great many cases from the public," attorney Evan Shingles of Shingles & Shingles wrote for the plaintiff.
Hodge found the plaintiff adequately pled a constitutional violation based on inadequate medical care.
"While Plaintiff's complaint lacks specificity as to Perez's condition at the time of his arrest, the details that are presented and the fact that Perez died within less than 24 hours of his arrest sufficiently support Plaintiff's allegation that it should have been apparent that Perez required medical attention," Hodge wrote.
"Based upon the facts presented, the Court finds that the failure to respond to the pleas of Perez's cellmate constitutes a denial of reasonable requests for medical treatment."
Perez was arrested in June 2021. He was 68 years old and had a history of drug abuse, plus he had only one leg and needed crutches as a result of being hit by a bus years earlier.
"He was elderly beyond his years, obviously fragile and not a threat to anyone but himself," the suit says.
At some point in the evening, he began vomiting and moaning in pain, the suit says. His cellmate called for help but none came, and Perez died sometime during that night.
When officers opened his cell to take him to his arraignment, he was found dead. An autopsy said the cause was most likely multiple drug intoxication, which could have been treated had officers bothered to help, the suit says.
Detainees who appear to be under the influence of drugs are supposed to be placed in a holding cell and inspected every 10 minutes, city policy says.
Also, anyone in a semi-conscious state is supposed to immediately be taken to a hospital for medical evaluation.
"(Perez) lost his life during the several hours of deliberate indifference by the Philadelphia Police Department while his cellmate was yelling for help, because Almanzar Perez was continuously vomiting and moaning in pain," the suit says.
"His death was discovered by his family when his daughter, the administratrix bringing this suit, began placing missing posters throughout Kensington, as she had not heard from him, and the Police Department called her and asked her to identify his body.”