Jury hears accusations in jail-death suit

A former Tulsa Jail medical director was investigated on an allegation that he injected a saltwater placebo into an inmate he believed to be faking an illness or injury, jurors in the Elliott Williams trial heard Wednesday.

Former Tulsa County sheriff’s office Chief Deputy Michelle Robinette testified for a third consecutive day in the federal civil rights trial concerning Williams’ death at the jail in 2011. Dan Smolen, an attorney for Williams’ estate, finished his initial questioning of Robinette early Tuesday afternoon, but the defense’s crossexamination was delayed until Wednesday.

Former Sheriff Stanley Glanz and Sheriff Vic Regalado — in his official capacity — are defendants in the lawsuit.

Defense attorney Guy Fortney guided Robinette, who served as jail administrator until 2014, through numerous reports and audits that outlined deficiencies found in the medical unit where Williams died from complications of a broken neck. Robinette also read from documents detailing the efforts of the private company that ran the medical unit to correct the issues.

An audit conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement a month before Williams’ death found a “prevailing attitude” of indifference among jail staff. Fortney asked whether Robinette witnessed an attitude of indifference when she visited the medical unit. She said she did not. Following the cross-examination, Smolen asked Robinette whether she recalled being told that the medical director, Dr. Andy Adusei, had been “stabbing inmates with placebos because he thought they were faking” illness or disability.

Smolen was referencing a memo Robinette received from sheriff’s Maj. John Bowman in August 2012 that expressed concerns about Adusei. The memo states that the jail’s part-time psychiatrist, Dr. Stephen Harnish, “disapproves of some of Dr. Adusei’s actions.”

Harnish reported that Adusei had been giving inmates injections in their jugular veins. He noted a specific incident in which he said Adusei injected a patient with a placebo containing saltwater. Although the memo doesn’t specify why he gave the inmate a saltwater injection, Smolen said the only reason to inject someone with a placebo is if they were believed to be faking.