Ruling clears Dolton officer in wrongful death suit
A court ruling clears a Dolton police officer named in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the family of a DUI suspect who died after a 2018 struggle in a hospital, the village attorney said.
Police Officer Ryan Perez acted professionally and appropriately during the struggle, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Lorna Propes ruled in dismissing the suit filed by the family of Solomon Agwomoh, a 51-year-old cabdriver and father of four from South Holland.
The ruling addressed liability, immunity and other aspects of public debate about police conduct and use of force, said John Murphey, Dolton village attorney.
“So much police work is days, weeks and months of routine, and even boring routine, which can be interrupted at a moment’s notice by a life-or-death situation,” Murphey said Friday. “That’s what people don’t understand about the perpetual stress of being a police officer.”
Agwomoh, who drove for Chicago Carriage Cab Company, was involved in a crash with another vehicle at Cottage Grove Avenue and Sibley Boulevard in Dolton at 12:40 a.m. March 10, 2018, according to the lawsuit.
Perez responded to the scene
and evidence caused him to suspect Agwomoh was under the influence of alcohol, Propes wrote in the ruling. An ambulance transported Agwomoh to Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn and a police supervisor told Perez to go to the hospital and conduct a DUI investigation there, Propes wrote.
In the emergency room, Agwomoh was placed in a cervical collar, changed into a hospital gown and placed on a gurney, the judge wrote. His injuries were unclear, but he acted confused and a CT scan of his head was ordered, according to the ruling.
Perez handcuffed one of Agwomoh’s wrists to the gurney before the trip from the emergency room to the CT scan area, according to the ruling. Upon arrival at the CT scan area, Perez released the handcuff and waited outside the room in a separate viewing area, according to the ruling.
As medical personnel tried to prepare Agwomoh for a CT scan, he suddenly got off the gurney, demanded his clothes and said he wanted to leave, the judge wrote.
“He became uncontrollable and would not follow staff instructions,” Propes wrote. “He could not be reassured or calmed down.”
Perez properly followed procedures and acted in accordance with a state law that addresses officer interactions with suspects in police custody while receiving treatment at hospitals, Propes ruled.
Perez saw what was happening and entered the CT area to try to help nurses, technicians and others in the room, the judge wrote.
His actions were “precisely the type of conduct anticipated” by the Illinois Tort Immunity Act, the judge wrote.
The act is a state law that spells out how public employees are protected from liability while performing various official duties.
Murphey said in the three years since the wrongful death lawsuit was filed, he collected testimony from eight people who were in the room during the struggle. The judge cited witness testimony in the ruling dismissing the lawsuit. A hospital public safety officer was among the witnesses.
“Each member of the medical staff who was present in the immediate area testified in one way or another that they at some time during these events felt fear for their own safety,” Propes wrote. “Each witness testified that Agwomoh was acting in an aggressive manner.”
Murphey said it was a life-ordeath struggle.
“Everybody was scared,” Murphey said. “They said he looked like the Incredible Hulk charging the officer,” a reference to a comic book character with superhuman strength.
A technician testified he thought Agwomoh was under the influence of drugs, not alcohol.
“I have seen plenty of drunk patients,” the technician said, according to the ruling. “They typically don’t have balance and they’re not as alert. He was not like any other patient, really, that I was used to. His behavior was shocking. It was unpredictable.”
Perez used a Taser device to administer an electric shock to Agwomoh during the struggle, according to the ruling.
“Agwomoh advanced on Perez in a confrontational manner and began to wrestle with Perez,” Propes wrote. “He pinned Perez against a wall. Perez repeatedly told Agwomoh, ‘Don’t do this.’ ”
The hospital public safety officer testified that when he arrived on the scene Agwomoh was “getting the better of the physical altercation.” That officer’s intervention helped end the struggle, the judge wrote.
“Not one eyewitness described Perez’s actions as excessive or unnecessary,” the judge wrote.
Agwomoh was again handcuffed, the judge noted, and medical staff administered sedatives. Within minutes, Agwomoh stopped breathing, according to a 2018 report by the Cook County medical examiner’s office. He was pronounced dead within the hour.
The medical examiner ruled the death a homicide because the struggle that preceded the death involved another person, according to the 2018 report. Agwomoh’s death was caused by multiple factors, the medical examiner concluded, including heart disease, high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries.
The homicide determination by the medical examiner’s office has haunted Perez, Murphey said.
“Officer Perez was not guilty of homicide,” Murphey said. “He was under attack by a wild man. He was a hero.”
Perez acted to protect hospital personnel in the room and his intervention saved medical professionals from physical harm, Murphey said.
“This is a good time to remind the public of the incredible unexpected dangers police officers face every day,” Murphey said.
An attorney who represented Agwomoh’s family in the case did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.
This was the second time Perez was involved in a fatal interaction while on the job, Murphey said. In 2016, Perez and another Dolton police officer fatally shot a robbery suspect who was pistol-whipping a victim.
The 30-year-old suspect pointed a gun at the officers, according to testimony in a federal lawsuit.
A federal jury ruled in 2019 that Perez and the other officer did not use excessive or unreasonable force when they engaged with the armed suspect.
“He’s only been on the job five or six years and to have a couple of these things, it’s been really tough on him,” Murphey said.