‘CULTURE OF FORCE’
Lawsuit claims improper restraints at Capital Health led to Trenton man’s death after ‘excessive force’ arrest >>
TRENTON » Kevin Higgenbotham, a city man who was arrested after calling police for help, was “improperly restrained” at a Trenton hospital, resulting in his death, according to a recently filed lawsuit.
Higgenbotham, who was pepper sprayed and beaten with a baton numerous times on June 15, 2015 by police before he was transported to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, was put in fourpoints, hard restraints at the hospital, the lawsuit outlines.
“Shortly after being placed in these restraints, Mr. Higgenbotham became unresponsive and suffered cardiac arrest and respiratory failure,” the federal lawsuit — filed by attorneys Stanley and Sharon King — reads. “He was resuscitated over a period of time, but never regained complete consciousness.”
According to court documents, Emergency Department nurse Michelle Micalizzi reported Higgenbotham became combative, causing her and security guards to initiate restraints on the patient.
However, Micalizzi nor the security guards were allegedly authorized to use the restraints, as per hospital policy, only a physician can order the straps.
Emergency Department physician Karen Greenberg stated she did not order the restraints and that she was not even aware of the use of four-point restraints until she heard a call for “code blue,” meaning the patient requires resuscitation, the lawsuit indicates.
Following his release from Capital Health on June 29, 2015, Higgenbotham was treated at various hospitals before he died at a Trenton-area nursing home on March, 12, 2016.
Mercer County Medical Examiner Dr. Raafat Ahmad determined Higgenbotham died from anoxic encephalopathy, sepsis, decubitus ulcer due to cardiorespiratory arrest following hospitalization on June 15, 2015 for cocaine related excited delirium, according to information provided by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
Hired by Higgenbotham’s attorneys, famed forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden agreed Higgenbotham died from anoxic encephalopathy, which is a lack of oxygen to the brain, but denied the 47-year-old suffered any “cocaine related excited delirium” on the night of his arrest.
Baden, who is the host of HBO’s “Autopsy” and a former New York City chief medical examiner, believes Higgenbotham was “improperly restrained” while he was a patient at Capital Health Regional Medical Center, resulting in the deprivation of oxygen to his brain, the lawsuit states.
Baden also conducted an autopsy for Michael Brown, the teenager shot to death by an officer in Ferguson, Mo. that led to widespread riots and national headlines on excessive police force, and has worked on investigations for O.J. Simpson, Jayson Williams, Kobe Bryant and Robert Blake.
A spokesman for Capital Health did not return a message seeking comment.
Excessive Force
The lawsuit also faults Trenton police for its handling of the situation when Higgenbotham dialed 9-1-1 on June 15, 2015 to report a friend was trespassing at his family’s home on the 200 block of Bellevue Avenue.
Higgenbotham reportedly suffered from bipolar disorder and was experiencing an episode when he called police, the lawsuit states.
Higgenbotham’s mother allegedly urged police to take her son to a crisis center.
The officers declined, the lawsuit states, stating they needed Higgenbotham’s consent.
As Higgenbotham grew louder with officers, he was pepper sprayed. He then ran into the family home, onto a first floor roof, which was accessed from a second floor bedroom window, down the fire escape ladder, and to the alley behind the row homes, the lawsuit indicates.
The cops eventually found Higgenbotham in the alley, handcuffed him and placed him under arrest.
“He was calm and was neither fighting nor struggling,” the lawsuit states, indicating Higgenbotham told police his name and social security number. “He advised the officers that he could not see.”
Higgenbotham was then placed in the paddy wagon, cuffed with his hands behind his back. Despite pleas for help, “the officers made no efforts to ease Mr. Higgenbotham’s eye irritation, but rather shut the door to the police vehicle and left him to struggle with the effects of the pepper spray in the small, enclosed space,” the lawsuit outlines.
Higgenbotham began kicking while in the police vehicle, which allegedly led police to open the door two more times, pepper spraying the man each time.
During his encounter with officers Carlo Cavalli, Samuel Gonzalez, E. Ramos and Sgt. Jason Kmiec, Higgenbotham was “not merely pepper sprayed on at least three occasions, but he was also beaten with a baton, without justification,” court documents read.
Higgenbotham was charged with simple assault, criminal mischief, improper behavior and resisting arrest.
A spokeswoman with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said Tuesday that the agency has closed its investigation into the matter.
“As a result of extensive interviews, security video review, medical record review, positive cocaine/marijuana drug screening, as well as CT scans showing no traumatic injuries, coupled with the consultation and interview of medical doctors, the investigation has shown no indication or evidence that the officers used excessive force in their attempt to arrest Mr. Higgenbotham on June 15, 2015,” spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio said in an email. “Additionally, there is no evidence that the officers use of force on that date contributed to Mr. Higgenbotham’s subsequent medical emergency/condition and his ultimate demise.”
Trenton Police Lt. Stephen Varn had no response to the lawsuit’s allegations, citing the city’s policy to not comment on pending litigation.
Despite the case being closed by prosecutors, Stanley King, of the Woodburybased law firm of King & King, said Tuesday that “no one has provided any information to the family as to what happened.”
“They refused all of our requests for information and flat out said they weren’t going to turn anything over unless there was a court order,” the attorney said.
The lawsuit claims officers used excessive force. The city, Trenton Police Director Ernest Parrey Jr., and the officers who encountered Higgenbotham are all named as defendants in the suit.
The civil rights suit contends Higgenbotham was deprived of his rights, falsely arrested and that officers failed to intervene to prevent excessive use of force.
Capital Health and the Emergency Department nurse are also listed as defendants for negligence.
“It’s just unfortunate that this man ultimately would lose his life and have the quality of his life totally deteriorated because he was having a medical emergency and the responders flat out did not know how to respond,” Higgenbotham’s attorney said, noting the lack of training and sensitivity dealing with people with mental illness. “Unless we can change the culture of force will cure everything, there will be a lot more of these unfortunate situations in our future.”
The lawsuit is filed on behalf on Higgenbotham’s daughter, Shanae. The family is seeking $10 million in compensatory damages.
“He did everything he could do for anybody,” Higgenbotham’s daughter previously told The Trentonian. “I don’t even know how I’m going to move on.”