Correction Officer Arrested on Federal Civil Rights Charges in Rikers Inmate Death

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Rikers-Island-Inmate-Death-Soap-Ball-Laundry-Detergent-Pendergrass-Federal-Civil-Rights-Charges-251972401.html

By Joe Valiquette
Monday, Mar 24, 2014

The FBI arrested a New York City correction officer Monday on federal civil rights charges in connection with the August 2012 death of Rikers Island inmate Jason Echevarria, who died after ingesting a corrosive disinfectant, federal prosecutors say.

Terrence Pendergrass, 49, a correction officer and former captain with the New York City Department of Correction, is named in a federal criminal complaint accusing him of deliberately ignoring the urgent medical needs of Echevarria.

Echevarria was being held at Rikers on a burglary charge and was being housed in the Mental Health Assessment Unit for Infracted Inmates when he swallowed a ball of laundry detergent containing ammonium chloride, a corrosive chemical that can be fatal if ingested, court papers say.

Prosecutors say a correction officer informed Pendergrass, a supervisory corrections officer on duty at the time, of Echevarria’s need for medical attention and that Pendergrass responded that he should only be called if an inmate needed to be extracted from a cell or if there was a dead body.

Later that day, a second correction officer informed Pendergrass that Echevarria had swallowed a soap ball and needed medical help. Pendergrass failed to contact any medical personnel, prosecutors say.

Echevarria was found dead in his cell the next day. An autopsy determined he suffered internal burns and scarring along his esophagus and his trachea, indicating he suffered aspiration of vomit into his lungs.

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