Blogging on Meds

Boston Police try and explain why they left a not breathing 22-yr-old handcuffed college student on the sidewalk for 6 minutes after C’s Game 6 victory.

David Woodman had an enlarged heart, and the Boston Police Department claims this caused him cardiac arrest after being arrested for drinking beer from a plastic cup. He was brought in to the ER with brain damage from lack of oxygen. He died from his injuries Sunday.

BPD’s spokesman says “excessive force was not used.” Of course, nine cops causing brain damage to a kid drinking beer from a plastic cup is excessive to any rash human. And how do you not notice your “perp” isn’t breathing? Isn’t that a cop’s job?

The Globe, doing news reporting at its best at, smothers the story today:

In another twist to the case, officials confirmed that all nine police officers - eight patrol officers and a sergeant - involved in the confrontation with Woodman went immediately to the hospital after Woodman was rushed from the scene, to be treated for “stress-related injuries.”

Much of the focus of yesterday was on the 6 minutes that Woodman was lying on the ground after his arrest for allegedly drinking in public and resisting arrest.

Woodman’s family wants an independent autopsy.

Two officials, one of whom works in law enforcement, said the initial autopsy showed that Woodman had an enlarged heart.

Woodman was born with a condition known as Transposition of the Great Arteries, which led to an enlarged right ventricle. Doctors at Beth Israel Deaconess told the family that Woodman did not have a heart attack, but they were still trying to determine what led him to stop breathing that night. His parents pointed out that he led an active life and played basketball and baseball.

“The idea that he suddenly stopped breathing goes totally against his health and what we’ve been told,” Cathy Woodman said in an interview with the Globe Thursday at the hospital. “The idea that [police] came to his aid, that’s not true. They made this happen.”

On the night of the occurrence, Woodman and his friends went to Boston Billiard Club in Kenmore Square to play pool and watch the game. Afterward, they headed home. Woodman’s friends told the Globe he was carrying a plastic cup of beer as they passed a group of uniformed officers at the Fenway and Brookline Avenue.

One friend, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Woodman loudly said, “Wow, it seems like there’s a lot of crime on this corner.”

One of the officers yelled “Hey you,” and several officers grabbed Woodman, pushing him against the fence and slamming him to the ground, the friend said.

“They dropped him really hard. It looked like he needed help,” said the friend, adding that Woodman was motionless and quiet on the ground.

The officers then yelled at the friends that they would be arrested if they didn’t leave, two of the friends said.

“We were so intimidated,” said the first friend. “There were so many police officers we felt there was nothing we could do.”

Friedman said he believes at least 4 to 5 minutes passed before the police noticed Woodman was not breathing and began to administer cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

Davis said that Woodman tried to flee, resisted arrest, and was extremely drunk.

His friends said Woodman was drinking but was not intoxicated.

Friedman questioned why police’s initial reports stated that as officers attempted to handcuff Woodman, they immediately realized he had stopped breathing.

Davis said that police noticed Woodman had stopped breathing between 12:47 and 12:53 a.m., while he was lying face down with his hands handcuffed behind his back. The officers immediately took off the handcuffs and began to administer CPR, as other officers called for an ambulance, Davis said.

Richard Serino, chief of Boston Emergency Medical Services, said yesterday that the first call from police for an ambulance at 12:47 a.m. was a low-priority call for a drunken man on the ground, who was already being attended to by officers. Then at 12:53 a.m., police urged EMS to “please push” because the man was unconscious, according to Serino, who said it became a top priority.

Although police indicated the EMS ambulance arrived at 12:58, Serino said he believed it arrived minutes earlier, but he was still reviewing tapes of the incident.

At the hospital, doctors realized Woodman had suffered significant brain damage. He was placed in a medically-induced coma, according to his family. He awoke June 23 and was able to speak and smile. But he was not coherent, Friedman said, and he had no memory of what had happened.

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David Woodman, 22, died yesterday.

Did Excessive Force Help Kill a 22-yr Old College Student?

This site has been critical of the Boston Police Department’s tactics after the Celtics’ Game 6 championship victory and during the parade two days later. As a witness to both celebrations, I saw cops acting aggressively, using racist language, targeting minority youths, and generally using overwhelming force in unnecessary scenarios. Often these tactics led made matters worse, even inciting mini-riots. Now, a kid arrested and assaulted for—get this—drinking a beer out of a plastic cup is dead. What happened? The Globe reports:

Arrest, death bring inquiry
Man, 22, was held in Celtics celebration; Parents contend medical aid delayed
By Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff | June 30, 2008
A 22-year-old man who stopped breathing while in police custody after his arrest during the June 18 Boston Celtics NBA championship celebration died yesterday, prompting an investigation by Boston police and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office into his death.

The parents of David Woodman, a former Emmanuel College student who was living in Brookline, said their son did not receive prompt medical attention while lying unconscious, face down on Brookline Avenue with his hands cuffed behind his back. They also accused police of failing to give them a full account of what happened.

Boston police say they immediately administered cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, flagged an ambulance after noticing Woodman was in distress, and did everything they could to help him before he was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. But Jeffrey and Cathy Woodman of Southwick say their son must have been deprived of oxygen for at least four minutes because he suffered significant brain damage.

“We don’t know what happened,” said Jeffrey Woodman, contending that police have left them with more questions than answers. “We are left to surmise that something occurred while he was in police custody that stopped his heart.”

Woodman said his son had a preexisting heart condition, but he led an active life and had been playing basketball earlier that day. He said doctors told him his son’s heart was functioning normally.

Thomas J. Nee, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, said he understands the family’s anguish, “but nothing those officers did that night caused his death.”

He said that the officers, who have not been identified publicly, have cooperated with the investigation, and that the family’s questions will be answered.

David Woodman, who was charged with drinking in public and resisting arrest, remained hospitalized after the incident and awoke June 23 from a medically induced coma. His parents said he recognized them but had difficulty communicating and whispered, “What happened?”

He smiled at a Globe reporter during a brief visit Thursday, spoke softly to his parents, and appeared confused. A large scrape was visible near his right eye. On Saturday, he was asking to go home, according to his parents, who believed he would survive and face lengthy rehabilitation.

At 2:30 a.m. yesterday he died at the hospital. The family is awaiting autopsy results.

Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, said Conley “pledged a thorough and impartial review of the facts.”

The Boston Police Department launched an internal investigation shortly after the incident into how the officers handled Woodman and will join the district attorney’s office in investigating his death, Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the Boston police, said yesterday. Several officers were treated for stress and have returned to work, she said.

“Based upon what we know thus far we do not believe that any excessive force was used and we do believe officers responded reasonably,” Driscoll said in an interview Friday.

Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis declined to be interviewed, according to Driscoll, who said the commissioner tried to meet with Woodman’s family June 18 but was turned away at the hospital by staff who said the family didn’t wish to see him.

Cathy Woodman said she was alone with her son, who was on life support with scrapes that looked like road burns all over his face, and felt too overwhelmed to meet with Davis.

David Woodman, who had been a history major at Emmanuel College and planned to return in the fall after taking a semester off, was walking from a bar with friends after the game when they passed about 10 or 12 uniformed officers at the corner of the Fenway and Brookline Avenue, according to two friends who spoke on the condition they not be named.

According to one of the friends, as Woodman passed the officers, he said, “Wow, it seems like there’s a lot of crime on this corner.”

Officers grabbed Woodman, who was carrying a plastic cup of beer, and as they struggled to handcuff him pushed him face down onto the ground, according to Woodman’s friend.

“He wasn’t being a punk or anything like that,” said the friend. “I don’t understand why the officers used such brute force to arrest him.”

Woodman’s friends said an officer yelled at them to leave, saying they would be arrested if they didn’t.

One of the friends said he returned a few minutes later but was ordered to leave or face arrest. “They were all just around him and he was on the ground and not moving,” the friend said. “I didn’t see them giving him CPR.”

A Boston police report given to Howard Friedman, a Boston lawyer who represents the Woodmans, says that Woodman “began struggling with the officers as they attempted to handcuff him. Officers immediately realized that David Woodman was not breathing and they began to give CPR and summoned EMS to that location.”

Initially, Driscoll said Boston police called for an ambulance at 12:47 a.m., reporting an extremely drunken man on the ground, and immediately began CPR. Later she corrected that information, saying that officers didn’t begin CPR at that time and initially just put out a low-priority call for an ambulance to tend to a drunken man. Then sometime in the next six minutes, she said, officers discovered Woodman wasn’t breathing, began CPR, and at 12:53 a.m. put out a second call for an ambulance, warning “please push.”

The police report says one of the officers flagged down a private Cataldo Ambulance, before a Boston Emergency Medical Services ambulance arrived.

Cataldo Ambulance workers arrived at 12:58 a.m., treated Woodman at the scene, and delivered him to the hospital at 1:11 a.m, said Ron Quaranto, chief operating officer of Cataldo Ambulance.

Thomas Drechsler, a Boston lawyer who represents the officers, said, “They responded as quickly as they could; there was no time that he was neglected. . . . Nobody is trying to hide anything.”

During an emotional interview at the hospital last week, Woodman’s mother said her son was being unfairly portrayed as a troublemaker, but he wasn’t one of the people breaking windows or causing damage after the Celtics game.

She said she was haunted by the notion that her son was struggling to breathe while he was with police. “There are people who are covering themselves,” she said.

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