PDF - Brown Goldstein Levy

Friday, February 18, 2013
Volume 125 | Number 11
Online at TheDailyRecord.com
Saylors sue Frederick, deputies
Man with Down syndrome died after mall struggle
BY DANNY JACOBS
[email protected]
The parents of a Frederick County man with Down syndrome, who died in January after being restrained by sheriff’s deputies at a movie theater, have filed a wrongful death
lawsuit.
Robert Ethan Saylor, 26, suffocated after being handcuffed and put on the floor at the Regal Cinemas at the
Westview Promenade Mall by deputies who removed him
from a theater for not paying for a ticket.
Saylor, a regular moviegoer, had just seen “Zero Dark
Thirty” and re-entered the theater while his aide went to get
her car.
“If any of the Defendants had heeded Mr. Saylor’s aide as
to how to deal with Mr. Saylor, his tragic and unnecessary
death would have been avoided,” the complaint states.
Ronald and Patricia Saylor’s lawsuit, filed Thursday in
U.S. District Court in Baltimore, names as defendants
Frederick County, the Frederick County Sheriff’s
Department and the three sheriff’s deputies, who were
working as mall security guards at the time; Regal Cinemas;
and Hill Management Services Inc., the mall’s property manager.
The state’s medical examiner ruled Saylor’s death a homicide in February. Three months later, a Frederick County
grand jury decided not to indict the deputies in connection
with Saylor’s death.
The Saylors are seeking compensatory and punitive damages for negligence, gross negligence and violations of civil
rights and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The total
amount of damages is not specified.
“They live every day with just an incredible pain in their
hearts,” said attorney Sharon Krevor-Weisbaum. She and
Joseph B. Espo, both of Brown Goldstein Levy LLP in
Baltimore, are representing the family.
Daniel Karp, the lawyer for the deputies, sheriff’s department and Frederick County government, said the plaintiffs
have thrown “everything including the kitchen sink into the
lawsuit.”
“This was a tragic accident, but there will be no evidence
of deliberate misconduct,” said Karp, of Karpinski,
Colaresi & Karp P.A. in Baltimore.
ASSOCIATIEDPRESS
In life, Robert Ethan Saylor visited with the deputies and helped
them wash their vehicles, according to the lawsuit his parents filed
Thursday in federal court.
Representatives from Regal Cinemas and Hill
Management Services did not return requests for comment
prior to press time.
Ethan Saylor was well known to many sheriff’s deputies,
from having visited department headquarters and helping
wash patrol vehicles, according to the lawsuit. His mother
had delivered cookies to the department during Christmas
to thank deputies for their relationship with him, according
to the lawsuit.
Ethan Saylor had also seen “hundreds of movies” at the
Frederick movie theater, according to the lawsuit, which is
where he went Jan. 12 with his full-time aide.
Saylor, who was 5-foot-6 and weighed almost 300 pounds,
became angry when his aide asked if he was ready to go
home after the movie, the lawsuit states. The aide called
Patricia Saylor for advice and was told to bring the car
around and allow Ethan to calm down, the lawsuit states.
When she returned, a theater manager informed her that
Saylor had returned to see the movie a second time and
would have to purchase a ticket or leave, a point reiterated
by one of the deputies, the lawsuit states.
The aide unsuccessfully requested they let Saylor remain
in the theater until his mother arrived, the lawsuit states. She
also warned he “would ‘freak out’ if he was touched and that
he would resist being forcibly rejected,” the lawsuit states.
Witnesses said Saylor was sitting quietly in his seat when
the three deputies asked him to leave, according to the lawsuit. When Saylor refused, deputies tried to grab his arm and
drag him out of the theater, according to the lawsuit.
Deputies handcuffed Saylor in the ensuing scuffle.
Saylor suffered a fractured larynx while being restrained,
according to the lawsuit, making it difficult to breathe.
Deputies called for emergency medical technicians but
Saylor was pronounced dead at Frederick Memorial
Hospital.
Gov. Martin O’Malley, after meeting with the Saylor family last month, issued an executive order to create the
Maryland Commission for Effective Community
Inclusion of Individuals with Intellectual and
Developmental Disabilities. The commission, chaired by
Special Olympics CEO Timothy Shriver, is required to submit an initial report by Jan. 9, which would have been Ethan
Saylor’s 27th birthday.
The Saylors would like to see changes in police training
come out of Ethan’s death, Krevor-Weisbaum said.
“From the very first day I met my clients, they were
focused on how, if the deputies were trained on dealing with
people with mental disabilities, they wouldn’t have done
what they did,” she said.
Karp acknowledged the family’s interest in improving
training but said the lawsuit contradicts that.
“The way the lawsuit is structured, it suggests they are
more interested in money,” he said.
Reprinted with permission of The Daily Record Co. ©2013