The Colorado Department of Corrections will award 3 million dollars to a mentally ill inmate’s family after the inmate had passed away as both guards and nurses stood idly by, watching as his seizures killed him and doing nothing to help. The prisoner was Christopher Lopez, who suffered from bipolar schizophrenic disorder. He passed away at the San Carlos correctional facility in Pueblo, Colorado in March 2013.
His last six hours were captured by staff on camera as they laughed and joked while he shook from his seizures.
He had died of severe Hyponatremia, a condition brought about by low blood-sodium levels. The condition is treatable if medical aid is administered in time.
Below is some of the footage of the incident. Be warned that it is extremely disturbing. It shows Lopez lying face-down on his cell floor as guards (who apparently believed that he was intentionally refusing to respond to them) dragged him out, removed his clothing, chained him to a chair and placed a mask over his head.
They continued to watch his seizures, joking and talking to each other.
“I can see you breathing,” Cheryl Neumeister, who worked there in the capacity of a mental health clinician, said to a very dead Lopez. He died in his underwear on the concrete floor.
The lawyer for Lopez’s family, David Lane, said the man’s death, “was caused by a mentality that the lives of prisoners are worthless,” the Denver Post reported.
“Hopefully, this settlement sends a message not just to Colorado prison authorities but to prison and jail authorities all over the country that the human beings they incarcerate must be treated like human beings,” he said.
Three prison employees were fired and five were disciplined. None were arrested.
The Department of Corrections stated that the employees’ actions, “were well outside of the department’s established training, policies and practices,” AP reported.
Shame on them. Prisoners and people with mental problems deserve better then what this poor man and his family received. No amount of money can take the pain of a loved ones death away. And why wasnt anyone arrested? I could be mistaken but seems like negligent homicide could apply.
I agree 100% with you Ashleigh.
Responsibility: The taxpayers hired losers, and now they are paying the price for that action. …Losers who knew there might be consequences to their actions, but behaved in a manner that led to this person’s death. From that perspective, I would think that the actions of the prison personnel could be construed and defined as a crime by the taxpayers. While this group should take responsibility for their action, the buck should not stop with them-aye, the prison population should welcome these persons into their midst.
One would hope those professionals who could have saved him, who were paid to take care of him are now being charged with his murder?
The prison systems in america are mostly made up of medium or low level inmates each inmate convicted and sent to the department of corrections cost a minimum of $38,000 a year to shelter and feed and clothe but don’t forget the salaries of the prison guards and the administration and maintenance budget is all a part of the emergency package the department request from the governor and for what? So some 18 year old kid with a pound of pot gets punked for 5 years then gets out and kills the snitch who told on him ?
And those prisons are increasingly run by private corporations on a “for-profit” basis.
My take on this incident and all the police shooting of mentally ill and unarmed people is. Police departments and prisons and others have dropped the ball in their human resources. They are hiring people that would have never been hired thirty years ago. Psychological screenings and vetting that that are a joke. Police departments hiring officers that had problems in other departments and prisons doing the same thing. Along with the hatred of the poor and helpless by many Americans and blaming them for the countries problems. I am older work overseas when I come home I see a meanness and general lack of compassion where I come from in the east. It wasn’talways like this.
It’s even worse here in TX, this world is changing for the worst!
I totally 100% agree with the comment by Ashleigh of negligent homicide!
What gripprd me was that the women were still laughing while applying CPR to the poor man.Shame on them
That was disgusting the health care people should be fired and those fat guards should be dismissed as well they all showed no interest at all
If prisons are essentially business now, private companies, then the lawsuit should come out of the prisons pockets. The specific guards, the wardens, ect. They won’t be affected until affects their pay checks.
This is just sick… You should do to those guards and nurses what they did to him… That filth is lower than human trash…
agree Hammurabi law
A.C.A.B.
Sick fucks deserve a nice and slow, painful death.
They are the real criminals, I hate nurses, corrupt corrections officers, those twisted fat fucks and bitter, old unwanted women who abuse their jobs responsibilities because they’re too sadistic to fucking do it. Put them behind bars for this murder, and treat them with the exact same contempt and abuse, fucking clowns don’t deserve to breathe the same air as me.
I agree 100% with you
jail prison guards are gangster scumbags they add fuel to fire in ANY situation. sheriff deputies are the same way acting like they know the law lol. if someone innocent ends up in jail for something petty or a minor infraction they can end up dead due to those losers working in the jails.
SE NAO ACREDITAM NA REGUPERAÇAO DO PRESO,NAO FAZ SENTIDO PRENDER,ISSO FOI UM PENA DE MORTE,NESSE CASO,A NEGLIGENCIA SE TORNOU UM OMICIDIO!!A LEI NAO E´ IGUAL PRA TODOS,DOIS PESO E DUAS MEDIDAS!!
This is unfortunate but what can we do to change our law inforcement and correction officers to be better at being attentive and sensitive towards our individual needs such as this and people who can’t communicate back such as a deaf person like me? These people have no rights?
TITLE 18, U.S.C., SECTION 242
Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnaping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
They officers in the prison should be put placed in prison also.
This is unfortunate but what can we do to change our law inforcement and correction officers to be better at being attentive and sensitive towards our individual needs such as this and people who can’t communicate back such as a deaf person like me? These people have no rights?
UM, you do realize the seizure was secondary condition brought on by a massive heart attack, right. When you see all of his chest rapidly turn red from the center out Well that is the heart increasing the blood pressure. The reason they found him laying on the stomach is because the cold floor contracts the heart muscle and that position lowers the intestines to decrease pressure on the heart from the diaphragm. His whole body shuts down. When you see his body jerk slowly kill over and just his stomach muscles wrenching. That is called the death throws, this is when the body usually evacuates itself. It is trying its hardest to stay alive. This is why his potassium levels where so low.
He was originally convulsing. The body convulses to try to increase blood flow to the limbs so the vascular system moves easier. You will also not earlier on the only respiratory movement he had when lying on his stomach was the lower lobes of the lungs. This is do to increased chest cavity pressure or the exhalation muscles trying to contract to make the heart move.
The sad and deplorable part is he new what was going on and felt it the whole time. When you see his eyes drift away from the people or roll back he is loosing blood flow to his brain and organs. Then you see him look at the people and breathe normally a few times. He was so weak and his body was reserving the energy for basic survival function. All he had the abillity to do was look at the individual and beg with his eyes for help. Then not to receive that help must of been a terrible way to go.
Just thought you might want the medical facts
4R
wtf are you saying? it makes no medical sense
What up doc?
First before answering, I would like to let you know that your profession is one of the things bankrupting America; Morally, Ethically, and financially. That you claim to march and suffer with us even though you make over 100k a year. That your profession is well known for purposely misdiagnosing people in order to get them back in for more procedures, thus taking advantage of the populace.
It makes no sense? So you don’t know about diaphramatic process. That respiration is muscular. That the main purpose of the lungs is o2 exchange and not thoracic movement? You don’t know that many medical conditions can increase chest pressure such CHF. That the muscles of exhalation will lock up and evacuate the bowels as well as the bladder; well that and the intestines themselves will constrict, all in order to decrease stomach pressure in order to increase chest pressure to relieve mechanical pressure on the heart.
That when all of these processes happen in a human being the body hits a survival mode. Where in survivors say there heart feels like it is beating in a circle, blood regurgitation. That during this process you can have vascular constriction increasing blood pressure which is what causes the blood regurgitation.
He probably had drug use: If it was barbiturate or opiod in use that it can cuase permanent respritory problems. Anything smoked can cause lung dysfunction.
That a lot of seizures are do to a underlying medical condition not by the overexcitement of brain cells. It is the mind telling the body to do one thing and the body doing another. Being the signal back to the brain is not what it is suppose to be the body convulses trying to reset itself. SHOCK? And before you answer I am highly aware of all forms of shock, so don’t split hairs.
Yes, there is mental conditions such as epilepsy that causes the seizures. But the amount of people suffering seizures from epilepsy is a fair small percentage as you should be well aware of. Most seizure cases I have studied have been secondary to vascular problems. Sometimes this results in mini stokes. It all depends on what arterie or vein is being restricted cutting off what flow to what part of the brain.
Here is to hoping that your profession causing the masses to go into legal slavery is soon found out.
That is terrible, no one deserves that, the fucking government is a joke
“Three prison employees were fired and five were disciplined. None were arrested.”
A man died…and this is one of the most horrific things i have seen in my 33 years of life…and also as a mental patient…this happens when the Good guys turn int bad ones out of lack of care, ignorance or both…i hope they dream about that poor man all their lives…i hope it hunts them all their life… is the only thing they deserve.
i lost my grandma on 24 due to a seizure she had 6 days before didnt help my grandma had countless seizures in front of me sometimes going into a seizure during mid conversation so i know what its like start to finish
its a damn shame that after they discover he has no pulse they move their asses to bring him back
my heart goes out to his family
What a bunch of uncaring pieces of detritus. Making jokes the entire time. I have no medical training at all, and I could tell there was something horribly wrong with the man. Just the breathing at the end alone was enough to warrant him seeing a doctor. Fat pieces of shit. They need to make the ones responsible )aka the guards making jokes, the nurse who didn’t do her job, and the warden because this is his show and he wasn’t doing his job obviously), pay the family. They should basically have to give over their paycheck to this mans family. The suddenly I bet none of this would be so easy to joke about.
Disgusting! The jail should be responsible not the state of Colorado! I am Canadian. The guards should be fired immediately!!!
These cops are the reason we need to have firing squads. There is just too much wrong in this video. His positioning on the floor with his neck extended, his arms probably had no blood flow because of the restraints, which should be illegal. The thing that most distubed me is watching him seize numerous times, he was hyperventilating through this whole video. I cannot imagine the fear and panic he must have felt laying there going through all of this and having no one come to help him. He died alone on a cold concrete floor because of a group of fuckwad pigs who should have been doing their jobs. Nurses or doctors need to be more involved in the observation of people like this. It can’t be left up to guards or cops. At 58, I thought I have seen some disgusting shit. I was wrong. This has to be the most disgusting and preventable thing I’ve ever watched.
looks like a real stand up guy. Probably doing volunteer work and helping old ladies cross the street most of his life. Paying the 3mil will be cheaper than supporting his ass for the rest of his life…It’s a bargain.
wtf is wrong with u?
do you do volunteer work? have you never done anything wrong in your entire life? no? looks like we better kill you then! stupid cunt.
I can’t believe someone could just sit by and watch this happen without lifting a finger to call for an ambulance. I am not even a nurse and I could tell from the beginning that there was something seriously wrong. And to think they had a nurse come in and check him, and she didn’t figure it out. Some nurse. I wouldn’t want them to take care of my dog. They should all b e fired and brought up on charges. Pathetic What comes around goes around and Karma is a bitch. Prayers to his family. No one deserves this.
Only 3 Million, eh? No arrests? Tell me: Was the attorney for the state visibly jacking off the jury members & judge; — or are the rumors of severe inbreeding within the State of Colorado true?
Wankers, as a nurse i find there behaviour totally reprehensible. Obviously he was having a seizure, which os serious and should never ever be laughed at no matter his situation. I hope there registrations were revoked at the very least as I believe them liable for his death wankers
As all the comments on this article are saying- the actions of the prison employees were inhuman, idiotic and selfish.
That man was obviously in jail for a reason, but no one deserves to be laughed at while they are painfully dying. The medical support team must of had some clue to what was happing to the prisoner, and the fact that they just stood there until the man was at death’s door and laughed at a dying human is just incredible. I personally would believe that if someone was a nurse or a policeman/security officer, that they would care for humans and their rights. Their job is to protect us and help us when it is necessary. If these “nurses” are finding that suffering an abhorrent death is comical, then how do we trust other nurses to help save our lives? If these “officers” are laughing at the humiliation of a human near death comical, then how do we trust other officers to protect us from harm and suffering?
pigs like this should be publically hung no questions asked
He’s a prisoner. Non violent crimes. Look at him ffs. He has clearly caused harm to someone before, we have to pay for dicks like this to have food, shelter a bed. One less scum in this world.
Take away the rights of others, you should have your rights taken from you
Thats sick and twisted you are as crazy as the guards, inmate or not they are people too, get put in a situation good or bad and you can be locked up too!
I use to think this way. Use to. Until I witnessed innocent people being locked away as a fall guy. Until I saw doctors misdiagnosing people for profit. Until myself felt the pain of others watching my suffering. Why indeed. If nothing more, than to plant the seed of our own future. Having it grow and bare fruit that is good and not bad.
Dear John, people have not crapped in you enough to get the stain and stinch of life.
As you see a man that is mentally ill from drugs covered in tats and in there for probably bad crimes. Have you ever asked yourself what has drove them there. I have.
It is the crap called the poverty trap. Where the person wants to know how to get ahead, and there is no resources. The relative relatives of this rapscallion probably fell short on the needed knowledge of success. The schools cater to the cartel that is the upper class giving the lower class the dunce cap of life. Never once even giving the idea that college is possible to reserve the scholarships for the scholars of the dollar. Hoping to to keep one nostril above ses pool of servitude that is known as being poor. His family probably bottled up their emotion to release in a bottle, blowing out their anger on blow, or rolling up their rage in a joint. For each year of servitude they loose their fortitude.
Families of famine sell their services, and as chilling as it is, their children. And all of this in order to give atleast one unsung young a boost above that ses pool. While the whole time the elite laugh at the misfortune of misguided.
The criminal system in the US was set up to be unbiast. The jails were hell, people were sent there to die. With so many false acusations by people using others, all the wronged widows cried. The pain of the chain gains caused all on the books to misbehave for in the book they were no more than free labor slaves; for free, the roads you drove on they paved. To gain control they gave the worse offenders a role. The gaurds shouldn’t have to work, they would use itmidation and steal there soul. Now a state gets money from its people and the government alike. The more people they have the more money they make. Law enforcement has quotes for goodness sake.
For money makes the judicial service go around but it is bringing our society down. If someone in a not for profit has a salary of over 80k a year, I would have to say that is quite queer.
I have made friends with gangbangers, elite, surfers, doctors, nurses, law enforcement, homeless, street people, suburbians, mensa people, business owners. Some things are always common, the drive to succeed.
Did you see the one concerned officer at first? Do you know why they had him narrating their narcissistic behavior? So he wouldn’t go against them. His laughter was somewhat fake and uneasy. He was afraid. When a work enviroment can dictate the death of others for their own pleasure they have crossed the line.
So it is not the so called no goodness of his life. It is how he came to meet his fate that we hate. We shall be sure when your body is in the throws of suffering, you will not endure. As you struggle to breathe, your lights dim, and you look at us once again. We shall dance, and joke, maybe play a game or two, all to make sure, what was done to him is done to you
4real
4ever
4Revenge
4R
John, people like you are scum of the world. He has a mental illness. He is sick. And before you say, “they make meds for that, why didn’t he just take meds?”, do you know what those medications make you feel like? Do you know the health risk involved for being on some of those medications long term? Sometimes, the medication can make you feel worse than the illness does. Sometimes, the medication can kill you quicker than the illness itself would.
You and people like you are what’s wrong with the world. If we were more compassionate and understanding of others, this world would be a lot better off and it’s people like you and these degenerates posing as CO’s that halt the forward progress this would could make.
how about a FUCKEN DOCTOR you fucken morons
was that in Iraq?
I was locked up a lot of my life from 10-21 I have been crime free for 13 years I am 33 today and I have a.d.d, a.d.h.d, Bi-polar and a sociopath, its about time that cops get caught for their wrong doings, Definitely the era of the camera. In the 90’s when I grew up they did not have mental facility beds open all the time, so they would throw us in jail or prison, Abuse, Mal-nutrition physiological and physical abuse was a regular thing, It’s about time people see whats really going on in our system, a lot of people are stuck in the cycle and can not escape thank god and somehow I did, I wouldn’t wish this pain on my worst enemy! The people are twisted but we get what we pay for, while the rest of us struggle for work!
The family was ripped off. What a joke, $3 million!
The police assume everyone is a criminal, everyone is armed, and everyone has their mental faculties. If someone isn’t listening to their power tripping egos it must be on purpose and for no other reason.
‘a
What a group of heartless pieces of shit! Prisoner or not that doesn’t take away from the fact that he is a human being. To sit there and laugh like he doesn’t exist is just heartless. Then the guard says “well he isn’t having a seizure because he didn’t piss himself” since when did you become a Dr.? Here this guy is on 24 watch, meaning your are supposed to constantly watch him and all you did was watch him die. Then after realizing he has no pulse the nurses who are giving CPR are having a conversation like the are having a tea party and then laughing about it. This is what is wrong with the world today, the people that are supposed to protect us and keep us safe are the ones doing the most harm. (ie police and healthcare workers) Karma is a bitch and one day when all of you pieces of shit that laughed at a dying man are in need on your dying day you will get whats coming to you, so I hope you all look forward to it.
Hi guys, please fix fluid width of embedded YouTube videos on your website, the player falls out the side of my screen on android phone, here’s a screenshot: http://imgur.com/UAkgmEu
trained by IDF
I have personally watched this happen inside PA state prison.. people including myself being unlawfully takin off there seizure medication.. I got lucky an didn’t have any seizures because mine were drug withdrawal related but others were not so fortunate. I watched a person get mocked and treated horribly an not even looked over in the infirmary for more than a hour. They treated the situation as if he was faking these very real an life threatening seizures then sent back to the block to smash his head up inside his cell an end up losing the use of his right arm. I watched this happen to two different people. The things that go unreported or are covered up in the U.S. prison system are ridiculous an absolutely inhumane. Prisoners are still human beings some more than others but human none the less. This problem I think will never fully be addressed in the manner needed.
I agree with others, it’s not the money, but lack of criminal prosecution that is the issue. Is because they are in prison, I thought that was the punishment. Not refusing medical treatment, then watching someone die because you think it’s amusing. SMDH
Thats really sad that prisons would go to that extent. I think those people should be prosecuted that did that to them althouhh that is lots of money im sure they are scared that family will put a hit on them well i have faith that the people that were fired will change only if they are taught the right way. If they are controlled then they and fired they have to be borderline ready to snap. Hope people have enough faith and forgiveness to all move on forward sounds like another disaster waiting to happen.
Absolutely despicable.