CORONER INQUEST IN INMATE DEATH AT MARTINEZ JAIL

Autopsy contradicts sheriff's story

CONTRA COSTA -- When a 19-year-old jail inmate died in February, the Contra
Costa County Sheriff's Office said he had admitted swallowing rock cocaine.

But the county coroner's office later concluded that Ivory Weeks III died
from an asthma attack. His family contends that jail deputies in Martinez
ignored his requests for medical treatment in the hours before he collapsed
Feb. 13. They say a private autopsy later found his body clear of drugs.

A coroner's inquest is scheduled today in the case, which has prompted a
review of jail procedures.

Weeks' family is distraught not only over his death, but also because
authorities have given them conflicting accounts of the circumstances and
the cause of death, said their attorney Elizabeth Reifler.

``There's no evidence that he swallowed rock cocaine or that he admitted
that he did,'' Reifler said. ``This was a 19-year-old kid that didn't do
drugs.''

Weeks' mother, Sonja Weeks of Vallejo, and other relatives have filed a
claim for damages against the county as well as Richmond police, who
arrested Weeks, and Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo, where he was taken
before being booked into jail. If the claim is denied, the family can sue in
court.

County liability claims manager Ron Harvey said he could not comment on the
claim, because his office has not completed its investigation.

``Anytime there's a death in custody, we look at it very carefully,'' Harvey
said.

When Richmond police officers approached Weeks the afternoon of Feb. 12, he
ran away because he had an outstanding warrant for probation violation in
San Diego County, Reifler said. She said he was injured when the officers
threw him to the ground at the edge of a parking lot bordered with large
rocks.

According to the family's claim, the officers took Weeks to Doctors Medical
Center in San Pablo and had hospital workers induce him to vomit because
they believed that he had swallowed cocaine.

Reifler said police may not only have been trying to prevent Weeks from
getting sick, but they also may have been trying to collect evidence to
prove their belief that he swallowed cocaine. Reifler said no evidence of
cocaine was found during the procedure at the hospital.

After he was taken to the Martinez jail, Weeks complained of head and
stomach pain, the family maintains. Sonja Weeks spoke to her son about 4:30
p.m. on Feb. 13. About two hours later, a doctor called to tell her he was
dead.

When the stricken family went to the jail, they were told that he had simply
collapsed suddenly, but they were also told that he may have gotten into a
fight with another inmate, Reifler said. They were prevented from seeing the
body for two days, she said.

At the time, Sheriff's Capt. George Lawrence told reporters that Weeks had
admitted swallowing cocaine.

Lawrence was unavailable for comment Friday. But Sheriff's Capt. Scott Daly
said investigators sometimes must delay the viewing of a body in an
unexplained death to prevent destruction of evidence.

According to county policy, any death in custody is investigated as an
``officer-involved death,'' which involves a team from the sheriff's
homicide division, the sheriff's internal affairs department and
investigators from the district attorney's office. He said the team's
conclusions will come out at the public inquest before a jury panel at 9
a.m. Tuesday at Martinez City Hall.

Daly said he was not familiar with the circumstances of the case but that it
spurred a review of policies for family notification and the transfer of
inmates from hospitals to jail.

``There was some concern that either procedures were not followed or things
could have been done to assist this man that were not done,'' Daly said.

E-mail Bernadette Tansey at tanseyb@sfgate.com.