ME: Man in custody died of natural causes
Barrier family disputes finding, blames police for 23yearold’s death
STAMFORD — An autopsy has revealed that Steven Barrier died after suffering a heart attack while in police custody nearly two months ago, according to a state medical official. But the young man’s family rejected that finding Tuesday and continued to blame police for his death.
The technical term for Barrier’s death just released by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is atherosclerotic coronary artery disease with contributing factors of bipolar disorder with psychotic features.
State Chief Medical Examiner James Gill told the Stamford Advocate it was a heart attack that killed 23yearold Barrier. He said the condition is seen in some 20 and 30yearolds that the office has completed autopsies on. Bipolar disorder accompanied with psychotic features can cause agitation, stress and adrenaline, which plays a role in heart disease, Gill said.
Barrier’s mother, Valerie Jaddo, said she doesn’t believe a word of it.
“My son did not have a heart attack. My son never had any medical history about cardiac problems,” she
said. “I don’t know where they come up with that. I know they had to come up with something to explain how horrible they treated him. They kicked him and dragged him. When you do that to someone, something is going to happen. Cardiac arrest does not happen like that. The police did something to cause it.”
When an autopsy is performed, in addition to the cause of death — in this case officials say a heart attack — the manner of death is also determined. While the manner could be homicide, accident or suicide, in Barrier’s case it was found to be natural, according to the medical examiner’s office, located in Farmington.
Interim Stamford Police
Chief Thomas Wuennemann said he expected a detailed examination of Barrier’s body to settle on natural as the manner of death.
“From the start we stated that this was not a case of police use of force so the medical examiner’s findings were no surprise,” Wuennemann said. “I will reserve further comment until the Stamford State’s Attorney Richard Colangelo concludes his investigation.”
About a week after Barrier died, Colangelo released body camera footage of his interaction with police. The 29minute video shows police from when they began their chase to when they turned Barrier over to medics at police headquarters after he passed out, from what has been determined to be heart failure.
The family of Barrier has questioned why the 23yearold was not taken to the hospital instead of the police department the night he was apprehended. They say Barrier was in clear distress and was denied medical care.
Barrier, who lived on West Avenue, led police on a foot chase after his sister complained that he assaulted her. When police took Barrier into custody, the Stamford resident told them he was too tired to walk to the waiting cruiser, according to the footage released by Colangelo.
The video shows the officer driving the cruiser ask whether he should take Barrier to Stamford Hospital or the police department. The arresting officers tell him to take Barrier to police headquarters for booking on domestic assault charges.
Less than a minute into the ride, Barrier asks to have the air conditioning turned on, according to the footage. The officer driving the car rolls down a window in the cruiser. During the ride, Barrier is heard moaning. When the car arrives at the station, officers find him unresponsive and carry him into the station. Medics arrive 51⁄2 minutes later.
Barrier was then taken to Stamford Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 3:10 a.m., about 85 minutes after he was taken into custody.
Near the end of the bodycam video, officers are seen joking that Barrier is faking and deserves an award.
After the initial autopsy results came in, Colangelo said that there was no indication of any firearm use, Taser use, pepper spray use or physical blows to Barrier during the chase and transport to police headquarters.
Colangelo declined comment on the medical examiner’s finding.