Jail sued over 2016 inmate death
Staff Writer nclay@oklahoman.com
Another lawsuit over an Oklahoma County jail death was filed Wednesday, even as the new sheriff and county commissioners continue to make improvements in the aging 13-story facility.
At least three other lawsuits over inmate deaths and one lawsuit over a near death are pending.
Sheriff P.D. Taylor said officials have worked really hard to reduce the risk of fatalities at the jail.
In the biggest upcoming change, the jail is dropping Armor Correctional Health Services Inc., its longtime medical provider from Florida.
Starting at the jail July 1 is Turn Key Health Clinics, an
Oklahoma City-based company.
“I’m certainly excited about a new company taking over,” Taylor said. “Their No. 1 plan is to take care of the inmates and try to get our costs down. I think it will be a really good deal . ... They’re in Tulsa and they’re in a lot of jails in Oklahoma.
“I really think it will make a lot of difference,” he said.
Suing Wednesday was the estate of Bruce Elias Bermea, who died in 2016, three days after police stopped him blocks from his home in south Oklahoma City for running a stop sign, records show.
The carpenter was jailed after the officer found he was wanted on a weapons offense from 2014. He was 53.
The estate is suing Oklahoma County commissioners, former Sheriff John Whetsel and Armor Correctional Health Services Inc. for actual and punitive damages.
The civil rights lawsuit alleges Bermea died because he was denied kidney dialysis.
The defendants, “were, at all pertinent times, on notice that Mr. Bermea did not have functioning kidneys and was in need of kidney dialysis on a regular basis, multiple times a week,” the lawsuit alleges.
The estate’s lawyer, Danny Shadid, filed the lawsuit in Oklahoma County District Court.
Relatives and another inmate told The Oklahoman in 2016 that he had begged for dialysis in the jail but was told to quit faking.
Whetsel said in 2016 Armor’s medical staff tried over two days to contact his dialysis provider but never got a call back.
“There was no dialysis treatment that was missed that medical staff was aware of,” Whetsel said.
Taylor said Wednesday the changes he is making are having an impact. He said morale among jail employees is up because they are seeing progress.
The estate’s attorney noted in the lawsuit that more than 30 inmates have died since Jan. 1, 2016, after being jailed in Oklahoma County.
An autopsy report listed the probable cause of Bermea’s death on June 7, 2016, as hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.