I doubt it. If a regular "citizen" did this then the d.a. would be all over the case like stink on sh*t.
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Dying Man's Shouts Went Unheeded
Struggling for Breath, D.C. Defendant Taken to Cellblock, Not Hospital
By Neely Tucker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 27, 2001; Page A01
In his last moments of life, Robert Waters collapsed in front of the defense table in
Courtroom 115 of D.C. Superior Court last Friday and pleaded for help.
"Get me to D.C. General!" the 54-year-old defendant shouted over and over, according to
three witnesses. "I need air!"
Senior Judge Tim Murphy peered over the bench, called for nurses and then kept the busy
afternoon docket of traffic and misdemeanor cases rolling. As Waters lay prone in the well
of the court, struggling for breath with a nurse at his side, defense attorneys and
prosecutors haggled over plea bargains and fines. Defendants came and went. The court
clerk filed papers, and the rapid pace of the courtroom never slowed.
"We had something like 150 cases that afternoon, and if you stop the court, it can get
chaotic," Murphy said yesterday. "He was being attended to. There wasn't anything else we
could have done. . . . He looked like a street person. The marshals told me the nursing
staff had checked him out twice. He didn't seem in that bad shape to me . . . He kept
yelling for air. I finally leaned over and told him, 'Well, if you'd quit yelling, maybe you
could get some air.' "
Courthouse observers noted that defendants in hectic urban courtrooms often try to act out
medical complaints or otherwise disturb proceedings, so after 10 minutes, U.S. marshals
pulled Waters to his feet and returned him to the cellblock.
Then he died.
"The marshals thought it was a big joke," said another defendant in the cellblock who
requested anonymity because he feared retribution. "He kept asking for help, saying, 'I
can't breathe, man.' And the marshals would say, 'Right, buddy.' He finally collapsed on the
floor. When they went in there, he wasn't breathing."
D.C. fire department logs show operators first received a call at 3:01 p.m., at least 90
minutes after Waters first asked for help. He was in cardiac arrest, department records
show, when paramedics arrived. He was pronounced dead at Howard University Hospital.