Pubdate: Sat, 20 Jan 2001
Source: Omaha World-Herald (NE)
Copyright: 2001 Omaha World-Herald Company
Contact:  World Herald Square, Omaha, Ne., 68102
Website: http://www.omaha.com/
Forum: http://chat.omaha.com/
Author: nathan odgaard

FATHER FILES COMPLAINT WITH POLICE IN DEATH

An Omaha man whose son died from a drug overdose less than an hour 
after being released from police custody says police should have 
sought medical attention for him.

Roy Lee Reynolds Sr. is filing a wrongful death complaint with the 
Omaha Police Department, alleging officers were negligent in not 
taking his son to the hospital to get his stomach pumped. Reynolds 
said his fiancee contacted the department's internal affairs unit 
Friday about setting up an appointment to discuss the complaint.

Reynolds, other family members and friends believe police officers 
knew that his son, Roy Lee Reynolds Jr., had swallowed crack cocaine 
when they searched him and his vehicle during a traffic stop at 11:30 
p.m. on Dec. 28.

A police spokesman said officers suspected he swallowed drugs, but no 
concrete evidence existed that justified taking him to the hospital.

Police found the younger Reynolds, 24, unconscious in his car at 3:20 
a.m. Dec. 29 near 46th Street and Redman Avenue. He had been released 
from Central Police Headquarters at 2:30 a.m., said Sgt. Dan Cisar.

A pedestrian who saw Reynolds having a seizure had flagged down a 
police cruiser. Reynolds was rushed to a hospital, where he was 
pronounced dead.

Douglas County Coroner Tom Haynes said autopsy results show Reynolds 
died from an overdose of cocaine.

Reynolds Sr. said he believes his son swallowed the drugs to avoid 
arrest the night before he died.

"They should have taken him to the hospital and got his stomach 
pumped," he. said.

Tiffany Filhiol and another man were with Reynolds when police 
stopped him. Filhiol said Reynolds had crack in his possession at the 
time.

Neither she nor the man saw Reynolds put crack into his mouth, 
Filhiol said, but police suspected Reynolds had something in his 
mouth.

Filhiol said Reynolds was patted down and his vehicle was searched. 
After no drugs were found, police tried to get Reynolds to "spit it 
up," she said.

"They said 'Spit it up. Cough it up. We know you got it,'" Filhiol said.

Cisar said Reynolds' actions had led police to check inside his 
mouth. Police had been conducting surveillance on Reynolds, who was 
convicted in 1999 of possession of cocaine, that night after 
receiving a tip, he said.

Police applied a training technique to get Reynolds to open his 
mouth, Cisar said. They looked inside and found no drugs or traces of 
drugs.

Police took Reynolds and the two others to the city jail, where 
Reynolds was strip-searched. While in a holding cell, Reynolds told 
Filhiol an officer told him police would take him to the hospital to 
have his stomach pumped.

Filhiol was released before Reynolds. She said she learned the next 
day that he had died.

Cisar said Reynolds was ticketed for driving on a suspended license 
and obstructing a police officer, and he was released at 2:30 a.m. 
Reynolds Sr. said his son's girlfriend picked him up from jail.

Fifty minutes later, Reynolds was found unconscious several miles 
north of his house on Valley Street.

"They didn't take him to the hospital," Filhiol said.

Cisar said police did everything in their power to ensure Reynolds' 
well-being. Had police known Reynolds swallowed drugs, they would 
have taken him to the hospital, he said.

He said police asked Reynolds on four different occasions if he had 
swallowed drugs. He told them no each time, Cisar said.

"Mr. Reynolds had the responsibility to help himself" if he did 
swallow crack, Cisar said. "We were more than willing to take care of 
him if he admitted it. As it stands now, we did everything we were 
supposed to do."

Haynes said autopsy results did not reveal how the cocaine entered 
Reynolds' system. Only traces of food were found in his stomach.

This is not the first time Reynolds Sr. has accused the police of 
wrongful death.

In 1995, Reynolds Sr. said he held an Omaha police officer 
responsible for his ailing wife's death. He said an officer failed to 
seek help for his wife, Sharon Pierro, after her morphine-dosing 
machine broke down. Pierro, who had cancer, died the next day.

"She shouldn't have died that soon," Reynolds said. "It hurts every 
time I see a police officer. He shouldn't have done us like that."

World-Herald staff writer Karyn Spencer contributed to this article.
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