FAMILY OF MAN WHO DIED IN POLICE CUSTODY QUESTIONS AUTOPSY

Medical Examiner Won't Release Toxicology Report

Despite an autopsy to the contrary, the family of a Pasadena man
believes he was beaten to death by six county police officers.

The family of Steven Ray Ellison refuses to accept the medical
examiner's findings, believing instead that the officers beat their
son to death Dec. 27 outside a friend's home.

"I don't want to say there was a cover-up, but it seems there was a
cover-up," said Mary Ellison, his mother as she pointed to pictures
of her son's dead body strewn out on her kitchen table in Pasadena.

"He had knots all over his head," said his father, Stephen Ellison.

Specifically, Mrs. Ellison pointed to three large bruises on the
right side of her son's head and a welt over his left eye. She also
retold rumors she heard from several unidentified witnesses - she
couldn't name them all and those who could be found by The Capital
declined to comment - that officers continued to beat her son after
he was handcuffed and didn't notice when he stopped breathing.

Lt. David Waltemeyer, a county police spokesman, said homicide
detectives still are writing their report, but added they have
uncovered no wrongdoing by the officers. He said the officers started
CPR as soon as they noticed Mr. Ellison wasn't breathing and called
for an ambulance.

When the report is completed, it will go to the State's Attorney
Office for review, Lt. Waltemeyer said. A departmental review also is
under way.

Agitated Delirium

The autopsy noted the scrapes, bruises and small cuts on Mr.
Ellison's body, but Assistant Medical Examiner Zabiullah Ali said
none were significant enough to kill him.

Because of that, he believes Mr. Ellison died of cocaine-induced
agitated delirium.

"Based on the violent and irrational behavior, lack of any
significant injuries and disease processes, and the positive drug
testing for cocaine, the cause of death was cocaine intoxication with
associated delirium," Dr. Ali said in his report.

It is unclear how much cocaine was in Mr. Ellison's blood. The Office
of the Medical Examiner refused to release his toxicology report.

According to several articles and experts, agitated delirium, also
referred to as excited delirium, is characterized by the quick onset
of bizarre and violent behavior. It's sometimes accompanied by
combativeness, hyperactivity, unexpected "superhuman" strength,
paranoid delusions and incoherent shouting.

Agitated delirium is not recognized by the American Medical
Association, however, and experts say there is currently no forensic
test to prove someone died of it. The American Civil Liberties Union
is openly questioning why the vast majority of agitated delirium
deaths happen in police custody.

That Night

Police said Mr. Ellison and his girlfriend were visiting a man at 488
Center St. about 10:50 p.m. when he became "delusional and violent."
They then called 911.

Officer Robert Lingner, a five-year veteran of the department, was
the first to respond. With the help of five other officers, he
wrestled Mr. Ellison to the ground and got him in handcuffs.

Mr. Ellison then stopped breathing and became unresponsive, police said.

Mrs. Ellison doesn't understand why six officers were needed to arrest her son.

"He only weighed 165 pounds," she said. "To me, that is ridiculous."

Speaking in general terms, Lt. Waltemeyer said each case is different.

"Sometimes it takes more or much more than one officer," he said.

Mrs. Ellison doesn't believe the police department's story because
detectives won't give her a report. She said that when her daughter
died in 2005 - the victim of a "suspicious suicide" involving a
shotgun blast to the stomach, family said - they were allowed to get a report.

Lt. Waltemeyer said the family will be able to get a report after it
is completed.

Mrs. Ellison also recalled how a police officer initially told her
about 12:15 a.m. Dec. 28 her son was alive and talking - even though
he passed out more than one hour earlier and never woke up. In
reality, doctors at Baltimore Washington Medical Center had just
pronounced Mr. Ellison dead.

"They didn't tell me my son had died until 2 (a.m.)," she said. "They
made me believe my son was OK."

Lt. Waltemeyer explained the initial officer might not have known
what was happening at the hospital.

Despite their misgivings about how their son died, the Ellisons just
started talking to a lawyer this week. The elder Mr. Ellison hopes to
file a wrongful death lawsuit against the county.

"We were waiting for the autopsy and police report," he said,
explaining the delay. "I don't want money. I want justice."

Past Problems

Mr. Ellison's fatal run-in with police last December wasn't his first
time grappling with officers.

In fact, the 24-year-old spent most of his adult life in jail or
prison because of various fights and scrapes with the law both here
and in Georgia.

Mrs. Ellison fully admits her son had his problems.

"He had psychotic episodes," she said, adding Mr. Ellison was manic
depressive and delusional.

"Even if he was not the best person he didn't deserve to die. ...
That does not give police the right to beat on people."