CHARLESTON – The estate of a man says he died after being able to obtain fentanyl while incarcerated at the Western Regional Jail.
Melissa Beckner, as administratrix of the estate of Thomas E. Oxley Jr., filed her complaint July 22 in Kanawha Circuit Court against the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Beckner is Oxley’s sister.
According to the complaint, Oxley was incarcerated at Western Regional Jail in Barboursville on July 26, 2020, for speeding in Milton. During his arrest, Oxley was combative with officers, tried to fight them and tried to defecate and throw excrement at them as well.
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Because of that, officers did not take him for medical clearance or for arraignment before taking him to the jail. There, he was taken through the intake screening process during which he was combative as well, growling at medical staff and having a spit mask placed on him.
The complaint says jail officers also used pepper spray on him during the booking process. He was then placed in the medical unit. It says Oxley was exhibiting signs of resting tachycardia and tachypnea. He told officers he had a history of high blood pressure and hepatitis C, and he previously had been placed on heroin withdrawal, benzo withdrawal, opiate withdrawal and/or alcohol withdrawal during previous incarcerations.
Oxley was supposed to be monitored for 14 days. But he only had two sets of vital signs recorded during his jail stay. Other chart notes indicate some screenings occurred where no vital signs were taken, and others show Oxley refused medical assessments.
Late on July 27, 2020, a medical emergency was called. Oxley was transported to St. Mary’s Medical Center in Huntington where he was pronounced dead at 9:35 p.m. His autopsy report lists his cause of death as polysubstance intoxication and the levels of fentanyl reported “can only be explained by a post-arrest ingestion of same.”
The complaint also says there was no evidence Oxley had ballooned a large quantity of fentanyl into jail in his gastrointestinal tract. It also says correctional officers failed to properly perform the required inmate counts and security checks of inmates.
“These security checks are undertaken to confirm that all inmates are alive, well and accounted for,” the complaint states. “In this case, Mr. Oxley presented to WRJ in a state of medical distress, and his condition was ignored by both medical personnel and WVDCR correctional officers.”
The complaint says the WVDCR failed to prevent controlled substances from entering the jail, allowing Oxley to take a lethal dose of fentanyl during his one day of detainment.
“Controlled substances are permitted to flow freely at WRJ due to inadequate screening and searches by WVDCR guards at intake, due to WVDCR employees actually transporting controlled substances into WRJ and disseminating controlled substances through WRJ or due to WVDCR contractors transporting controlled substances into WRJ and disseminating controlled substances through WRJ,” the complaint alleges. “The WVDCR and its WRJ facility failed to prevent the sale, exchange and use of controlled substances within the walls of WRJ. …
“WVDCR staff did not adequately help Thomas Oxley, nor did they insist or ensure that he receive the medical interventions he so desperately needed.”
L. Dante diTrapano, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiff, declined comment on the case.
Beckner accuses the WVDCR of malicious conduct. She seeks compensatory damages for her brother’s pain and suffering prior to his death, for the sorrow and emotional suffering of his beneficiaries and for the loss of emotional support, society and companionship to his beneficiaries. She also seeks pre- and post-judgment interests, attorney fees, court costs and other relief.
Beckner is being represented by diTrapano and Benjamin D. Adams of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston, William C. Forbes and W. Jesse Forbes of Forbes Law Offices in Charleston and Joseph H. Spano Jr. of Pritt and Spano in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 22-C-598