By Julius Whigham, Palm Beach Post
Original publication date:  July 19, 2011

West Palm Beach, Fla. — A guard who was on duty when an 18-year-old died at a West Palm Beach juvenile detention center stepped forward Monday, saying that he was ordered not to call 911 when he thought something was wrong.

Attorneys for officer Floyd Powell said at least two supervisors gave a directive not to call 911, although Powell suspected that Eric Perez needed medical attention. However, state officials said Powell and another officer on duty were fired because they did not call 911.

Perez, who turned 18 this month, died the morning of July 10 while in custody at the state-run Palm Beach Regional Juvenile Detention Center on 45th Street.

Powell, speaking through his attorneys, said he was fired after disclosing to state investigators that he was ordered not to call 911. Four other officers were suspended in the wake of the investigation.

Powell’s attorney Cathy L. Purvis Lively said Monday that he would have had to leave the holding area he was responsible for if he had tried to call 911.

“There was not a phone directly in the (area), and he is prohibited from having a mobile phone on his person while he was on duty,” she added.

Powell, who was a five-year employee of the state Department of Juvenile Justice, was recently promoted and was told that he was dismissed because he did not meet the terms of his probationary status with the new position, Lively said. He is seeking damages for wrongful termination, she said.

In a statement, Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Wansley Walters said officers Powell and Terence D. Davis were terminated because “we cannot tolerate staff not following policies and procedures, especially as it relates to the medical care of youth in our custody.”

Meanwhile, an attorney for Perez’s family alleges that the teen repeatedly complained of headaches and vomited for seven hours while awaiting medical attention.

“It doesn’t take a genius to realize this is a very serious condition,” said Richard Schuler, the attorney for Perez’s family. “When the young man was finally taken back to the medical detention holding area, which was basically just a bare room and put there, no one was called there. Someone was told to stand guard out front and later on, that person wasn’t even there.”

Schuler said that based on conversations with one of the fired employees, there was a flagrant violation of standards by the detention center’s employees.

“We don’t know, because the investigation hasn’t been completed, exactly what the time sequences are,” Schuler said during a news conference Monday with Perez’s mother, Maritza. “But we suspect that he was left alone in that room to die by himself without any medical care whatsoever.”

DJJ officials did not immediately respond to Schuler’s allegation.

Maritza Perez said she was hoping to find out why her son died. She believes that his death could have been prevented.

“Why do they have to go through this? Why do they have to die?” she said at the law office of Schuler, Halvorson and Weisser. “My son didn’t have to die like this. They could have done something to help him out. If a kid complains about a headache, why couldn’t they take care of it (or) pay attention to it?”

Schuler said that any litigation on the family’s behalf would be pending the outcome of autopsy results and the state’s investigation, which could take up to six months.

Schuler said the case reminds him of the death of Omar Paisley, a 17-year-old who died of a ruptured appendix in June 2003 while in DJJ custody.

The case led to sweeping reforms at the Department of Juvenile Justice and spurred the departure of more than 20 workers.

It resulted in criminal charges for two nurses and a more than $1 million payment for Paisley’s family.

Staff writer Michael LaForgia contributed to this story.

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