By Cameron Langford
Courthouse News Service
HOUSTON — Paramedics and constables killed a man by forcibly injecting him with a sedative, and giving him two more injections and kicking him as he lay “completely unresponsive” on the ground, his parents claim in court.
After taking “a small amount of cocaine,” 23-year-old Jamail Amron began having trouble breathing, walked to his apartment’s poolside phone and called 911, his mother, Barbara Coats, and father, Ali Amron, claim in Harris County Court.
Amron then approached the drive-through window of a Burger King and asked for a cup of water after telling an employee he was hyperventilating, his parents say.
“After receiving the cup of water, Jamail Amron calmly sat down on the ground a few feet away from the drive-thru window to drink the water,” the complaint states.
“On or about September 30, 2010, at approximately 1:40 a.m., one of the defendant officers arrived in a police vehicle at or about the corner of W. 63rd Street and S. Wood Street.
“After the police vehicle arrived, Jamail Amron continued to drink the water in the same calm manner, while sitting down in the same place.”
A constable approached Amron and, “before asking any questions or saying anything else, the officer aggressively yelled something to the affect of at Jamail Amron: ‘If you do anything, I will not hesitate to knock the fuck out of you,’” the lawsuit states.
Fearing for his safety, Amron tried to tell a Burger King employee a phone number and told her to call if anything should happen to him, his parents say.
But a constable allegedly cut him off by handcuffing him and walking him over to an ambulance.
“After reaching the ambulance, Jamail Amron ran away, still handcuffed, from the ambulance towards the drive-thru window of the Burger King,” the complaint states. “One or more of the defendant officers ran after Jamail Amron. One defendant officer forcefully pushed Jamail Amron against a parked police vehicle ... in the Burger King parking lot, pinning him against the side of the car.”
As several constables held Amron down, his parents say, one of them spoke with a paramedic about giving him an injection of Versed, generically called midazolam, which is a central nervous system depressant used to treat seizures and insomnia.
“To assist the paramedics with giving the injection, several defendant officers held Jamail Amron in place against the police vehicle,” the complaint states.
“At that point, the paramedics gave Jamail Amron an injection of versed Midazolam near the shoulder area as the defendant officers held him in place against the police vehicle.
“Immediately after one of the paramedics injected Jamail Amron (he) collapsed to the ground near the parked vehicle.
“Jamail Amron shook for a second and then he ceased to move at all. From this point on, Jamail Amron did not move and was completely unresponsive.”
Coats and Ali Amron say the paramedics and constables did not check Jamail Amron’s vital signs after he collapsed, but one constable kicked him in the ribs.
A constable then “put his foot on Jamail Amron’s face, near his nostril area and, with his foot, pressed Jamail Amron’s head against the pavement,” his parents say.
“While Jamail Amron was on the pavement, one or more of the defendant officers placed their feet on (his) body and one or more of the paramedics gave (him) two more injections of versed Midazolam, one in each of (his) thighs,” the complaint states. “Jamail Amron died at the scene.”
Coats and Ali Amron seek damages for assault, false imprisonment, negligence, negligent hiring, conspiracy, gross negligence, civil rights violations and wrongful death.
They also want the defendants to pay for their son’s funeral expenses.
Defendants include Harris County, the Harris County Constable’s Office Precinct 4, seven of its constables, Cypress Creek Emergency Medical Services and three of its paramedics.
Amron’s parents are represented by Uma Bansel with The Blake Horwitz Law Firm in Chicago, and Houston attorneys Bradford Gilde and Steven Kherkher.
Republished with permission from Courthouse News Service