Officers ignored man slumped in a Boston cell, resulting in his death, mom’s lawsuit says

A mother says her son was in clear need of immediate medical attention when officers saw he was slumped over in his cell before he eventually died while in police custody of the Boston Police Department.

For about an hour, police officers walked by 28-year-old Shayne Stilphen’s cell seven times as he was limp, with his body “awkwardly” folded over his crossed legs, and they didn’t help despite glancing in at him as he was overdosing on July 14, 2019, according to the mother’s lawsuit filed in Boston federal court.

When one officer dropped off food for him, they “stared into (his) cell” at 5:39 a.m. — the moment a Boston Police investigation determined that he took his final breath, a complaint states. This officer likewise didn’t help him.

Lynnel Cox, Stilphen’s mother, says his death was preventable and sued the Boston Police Department, including a few of the officers present during her son’s fatal overdose, in June. Stilphen struggled with opioid use disorder and had discussed plans to enter into recovery before his death, according to the complaint.

Now a federal judge is allowing the civil case to move forward after two officers named in the complaint filed a motion to have the lawsuit dismissed, according to a news release from the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, which is representing Cox. The judge denied their motion on Dec. 7.

Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled Cox’s complaint offers “both subjective and objective reasons for the officers to understand that Stilphen faced substantial risk of serious harm unless provided immediate medical care,” his order states.

McClatchy News contacted attorneys representing the Boston Police Department for comment on Dec. 8 and didn’t immediately receive a response.

“Shayne was my only son, and I miss his warm spirit every day,” Cox said in a statement. “Nothing has been the same since he has died.”

He died at Boston police’s District 4 station in an area known to be the epicenter of Massachusetts’ opioid epidemic, according to the complaint.

Stilphen is taken into Boston police custody

About two months before Stilphen arrived at the District 4 station, another man named Cristhian Geigel overdosed and died there, according to WCVB. Geigel’s family also went on to file a lawsuit against Boston police, accusing officers of neglecting the 39-year-old while in custody, NBC 10 Boston reported.

On July 14, 2019, Boston police officers took Stilphen into custody after he matched the description of a suspect accused of breaking into a car, according to the complaint.

During the booking process, he was showing “obvious signs of opioid over-intoxication” but no medical care was provided, the complaint states.

The signs, as recorded by the station’s surveillance footage, included how his body kept contorting unnaturally, how he appeared to struggle to stay awake and how he couldn’t stand upright without officers holding him up, according to the complaint.

Stilphen even slumped down as his booking photos were being taken, the complaint states.

“Although any reasonable person would have recognized Shayne’s urgent need for medical attention in light of these symptoms,” the officers named in the complaint didn’t call for for a healthcare provider to evaluate him, failed to take him to a hospital and didn’t provide care themselves.

Officers walk by Stilphen’s cell

After Stilphen was brought to his cell, he pulled out a bag from his shorts containing drugs that officers had not found during their quick search of him, according to the complaint. He started to take the drugs over two hour.

Cox maintains this “should have been visible both on the surveillance footage streaming into the booking area and from the hall outside Shayne’s cell, where officers periodically walked by throughout this time.”

By 4:48 a.m., Stilphen was slumped over and would stay in that position until he stopped breathing, according to the complaint.

“During those 51 minutes, officers walked by his cell seven times, and his cell was subject to continuous video surveillance,” the complaint states. “The officers had access to Narcan. Yet not a single officer entered Shayne’s cell, attempted to rouse him, sought outside medical treatment, or provided medical care themselves.”

A Boston police department investigation ultimately revealed Stilphen took his last breath at 5:39 a.m., the same time one of the officers brought him food, according to the lawsuit.

About 12 minutes after , a different officer walked by Stilphen’s cell for the first time, saw him bent over in an uncomfortable position, and immediately recognized the urgency — but it was too late, the complaint states. He barged into the cell and unsuccessfully tried administering Narcan.

Emergency medical services eventually arrived to help, briefly restoring Stilphen’s pulse, but their efforts ultimately didn’t work, according to the complaint. He died while in Boston Police custody.

The complaint states that Narcan could have saved Stilphen, like it had many times before, and reversed his overdose if it had been administered sooner.

‘He wanted to live’

The Boston Police Department is accused of discriminating against Stilphen over his opioid use disorder and the officers named in the complaint are accused of causing his death by failing to act.

“Shayne was a beloved son, brother, and friend,” Carol Rose, the executive director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement.

Cox says her son, who was a brother to two younger sisters, dreamed of entering a long-term recovery program, becoming a “Boston Barbah,” and starting a family.

“Even in periods of active addiction, Shayne utilized harm reduction practices because he wanted to live: he carried the overdose reversal medication Narcan and tried to use substances in the presence of other people so that they could administer this life-saving medication if he began exhibiting the clear signs of an overdose,” the complaint states.

Before his death, Stilphen had inspired his mom to establish Hand Delivered Hope in Boston, an organization that supports individuals in finding solutions to their addictions.

Her wrongful death lawsuit demands a trial by jury.

“The defendants denied Shayne his constitutional right to medical care,” the ACLU said in a statement.

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