Restraints Led To Death, Expert Says King County’s Chief Examiner Contradicts Amend’s Opinion
Police restraints played a major role in a man’s death in the Spokane County Jail last September, King County’s chief medical examiner said in a court affidavit.
Dr. Donald Reay’s opinion contradicts the opinions of the Spokane County coroner and a lung specialist who said a drug overdose killed Mario Lozada.
“The adverse position this man was placed in is responsible for his death,” Reay said in an interview Wednesday.
Lozada, who was high on methamphetamine, died in a jail cell Sept. 3, less than 10 minutes after he was put in a nylon belt that strapped his arms to his side.
Before his arrest, Lozada, 28, fought with police who came to an apartment where he was partying. He was placed face down in a patrol car on the ride to jail.
Reay’s sworn statement was solicited by the attorney representing Lozada’s wife, Tina, in a lawsuit against Coroner Dexter Amend.
Reay attributed the death to “positional asphyxia,” which he has studied and written about for years. It can occur when someone is placed face down for three to 20 minutes.
The position makes it harder to breathe, and drugs can increase the problem, according to Reay.
“Certainly, the presence of methamphetamine plays a role here, and it likely lowers the threshold to a sudden death,” Reay wrote.
However, a Denver pulmonologist is siding with Amend, saying Lozada didn’t die from restraint asphyxia.
Lozada’s heart stopped because of “amphetamine toxicity,” Dr. Thomas Petty of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center wrote in another affidavit filed in the case.
Lozada’s airways were open and his lungs only slightly congested, showing no evidence of asphyxia, Petty stated.
Petty could not be reached for further comment.
High methamphetamine levels can upset the heart’s rhythm and make it stop, especially in someone agitated and struggling, Petty wrote.
Amend has been embroiled in a dispute over what killed Lozada since he and the doctor who performed the autopsy butted heads.
Forensic pathologist George Lindholm said the death was accidental but insisted it was caused by positional asphyxia.
Amend tried to sway Lindholm’s opinion, telling him it was “politically unacceptable,” Lindholm said.
Amend, through secretary Anne Franks, declined comment.
“I know it’s tough - none of us like these,” said Reay, who has investigated three deaths caused by positional asphyxia.
“It’s perhaps going to embarrass other agencies, usually law enforcement, but what are you going to do? There has to be knowledge and awareness of what can happen.”
, DataTimes