Deputies laughed at vet while he died from overdose

Lawsuit says jail failed to deliver medical care

Two years ago, a man died of an apparent drug overdose after being held at the Clackamas County Jail in Oregon City, Oregon.

Now, video has emerged in which sheriff’s deputies could be heard laughing as the man thrashed uncontrollably in a padded cell before he died. They joked that he could be used as a cautionary example to warn students about the dangers of drugs.

“Should we just take him and put him in front of the classroom?” asked one of the officials.

“If you could just wheel him in a cage and wheel him back out,” said another.

“Look what I brought for show and tell today,” one deputy said while laughing.

The one holding the cellphone could be heard saying: “I wish we could show this to his girlfriend like, ‘You love this?’ ”

The man, Bryan Perry, 31, was a U.S. Army veteran who had earned a Purple Heart, according to a lawsuit filed this week by his mother, Brenda Nordenstrom.

The lawsuit accused Clackamas County sheriff’s deputies and the jail’s medical provider, Corizon Health, of failing to deliver prompt medical care or to take Perry to the hospital in time, ultimately leading to his death.

Police reports show that Perry was arrested on Nov. 3, 2016, on a warrant and was co-operative as he was being booked, although he had trouble controlling his movements.

He was then taken to a highsecurity padded cell. County officials and medical workers checked on Perry periodically during the night, and deputies observed that he was thrashing in a way that suggested he had taken methamphetamines, according to jail incident reports released by the sheriff’s office.

One deputy reported that Perry said he had taken “bath salts, heroin and meth.”

The video was recorded by one of several deputies who, at one point, stood outside of the cell looking in as Perry moaned, yelled, flailed his limbs and somersaulted off his padded bed.