Syracuse, NY -- Sheriff Kevin Walsh’s political opponents went on the attack Sunday over the Friday night death of a man who’d been in custody at the Onondaga County Justice Center jail. The three deputies challenging Walsh for sheriff each said Sunday they’ll make the jail’s management an issue in their campaigns. They cited the death of inmate Raul...
Raul Pinet Jr.Syracuse, NY -- Sheriff Kevin Walsh’s political opponents went on the attack Sunday over the Friday night death of a man who’d been in custody at the Onondaga County Justice Center jail.
The three deputies challenging Walsh for sheriff each said Sunday they’ll make the jail’s management an issue in their campaigns. They cited the death of inmate Raul Pinet Jr. on Friday, the death of a pregnant inmate in November and the handling of an inmate with a compound fracture to his arm in December 2008.
“It’s starting to look like a trend,” said Toby Shelley, a sheriff’s sergeant who has the Democratic endorsement. He and the two other candidates, Detective Ed Bragg and Deputy Joe Price, said the jail’s policies are to blame — dating back 15 years.
Walsh, seeking his fifth term as sheriff in November, criticized his opponents for capitalizing on tragedies.
“I don’t think there is any issue of policy problems,” he said. “And I don’t think that’s a proper thing for a candidate for sheriff to be using to further their own political careers.”
Pinet, 31, died Friday after Syracuse police arrested him on Shonnard Street, where they were called on a report of an attempted burglary, police said. Pinet struggled with officers who took him into custody on a trespassing charge, police said. He later fought with jail deputies, who then put him in an emergency restraint belt, Walsh said. After they subdued Pinet in a holding room, deputies removed the belt and his clothes and left him lying facedown on the floor, the sheriff said.
After four to five minutes of observing Pinet, deputies noticed he wasn’t moving and realized there might be a problem, Walsh said. The deputies went back into the room cautiously, aware of the fact that he might be faking, Walsh said. For that reason, medical workers were not allowed to go in immediately, he said.
Jail staff tried to revive Pinet, then called an ambulance, and he was pronounced dead at Upstate University Hospital, Walsh said.
Sunday, Pinet’s family was meeting with members of the League of United Latin American Citizens and the New York Civil Liberties Union. They were gathering information, conducting interviews and gathering videotapes of the incident, according to Luz Encarnacion, LULAC’s president.
Pinet’s relatives, including his wife and father, were consulting with lawyers, said Barrie Gewanter, director of the Central New York chapter of the NYCLU.
“The family has serious questions about why he was placed under arrest, why he was beaten and why he died,” Gewanter said.
Pinet’s family could not be reached Sunday.
In December 2008, inmate Maparo Ramadhan suffered a compound fracture to his arm when deputies subdued him at the jail. With a bone protruding from his arm, a jail nurse told deputies it was OK to take him to court for his scheduled appearance.
In November, inmate Chuniece Patterson died from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy after she called out in pain from her cell for 14 hours. The state Commission of Correction criticized jail officials for the medical care they provided.
Her death came 13 years after another inmate died at the jail from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. After that 1996 death, county officials said they’d instituted policies that would prevent it from happening again.
“They gave lip service to the public,” said Bragg, who will challenge Walsh’s Republican party endorsement in a September primary. “But there was no accountability after that. He never changed the policy.”
Bragg said the problem lies in the jail’s management setup. The jail, with 325 deputies, has only four managers, he said. There are two captains, an assistant chief and a chief. The road patrol, with 225 deputies, has eight managers, he said.
“There aren’t enough managers in the jail — people who make decisions on policy,” he said.
Walsh said the jail was set up with about eight lieutenants, so there’s always at least one on duty who can make decisions. They’re part of the management team, he said.
Price, who’s running against Shelley in a primary for the Democratic nomination, has worked as a jail deputy for 17 years. He said the problems at the jail are a result of a lack of oversight by sheriff’s administrators, including Walsh.
“They’ve turned a blind eye to it,” Price said.
Shelley said there should be a policy that allows deputies to sometimes override the decisions of jail nurses so an inmate who’s in need of medical treatment can get it. Deputies voiced concern about the inmate with the protruding bone, but the nurse told them to transport him to court anyway.
Walsh disagreed.
“I don’t think deputies are qualified to make medical decisions,” he said.
Walsh said his opponents are wrong to try to take advantage of someone’s death, especially when they don’t have all the facts.
“It’s totally inappropriate for them to be criticizing their fellow officers and the medical staff, given the basic knowledge they would have about what is in fact the policy and what has been done over the past 15 years,” he said.
--John O’Brien can be reached at jobrien@syracuse.com or 470-2187.