The time is about to come when his sentence would expire and the sheriff's office says the family will have to take financial responsibility for his medical bills. Imagine that! He wound up in this condition while in their custody and now they are dropping it in the family's lap. In no way would I condone Laughon's crime but there have been several inmates die in the custody of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Dept. in the past year or so. I think maybe 5. This is not a funny situation.
A friend from church got pulled over, they were yelling at her, pulled their guns, 6 cop cars, handcuffed her etc. Her license plate matched a stolen plate from Texas but they evidently couldn't see that big orange in the middle of her license plate or the myflorida.com that's also on the plate. They screwed up royally pulling this woman over, she keeps saying what if it had been her husband in the car at the time. What would they have done to him?
There's a pic and another article here about Laughon. http://www.firstcoastnews.com/assetpool/images/05228191840_lindyguy.jpg
The following article is from the paper.
Inmate in bad shape; family wants answers
Duval jail detainee has 'no brain function' following fights with officers.
By DANA TREEN , The Times-Union
The family of a Jacksonville man is questioning what happened between the time he left the Duval County jail with what police said were minor visible injuries and the time he arrived at a hospital close to death.
John Gregory Laughon, 38, has been taken off a ventilator but is unresponsive and must be fed through a tube since being taken to Shands Jacksonville hospital by police Feb. 22, family attorney Sean Cronin said Tuesday.
"He is breathing on his own, but he has no brain function," Cronin said. He said Laughon is not expected to recover.
Documents obtained by the Times-Union said a nurse who treated Laughon when he arrived at Shands in February found him "cold to the touch" and "pulseless." He was lying face down with his arms and legs tied and was wearing a blood-covered spit mask. The nurse began cardiopulmonary resuscitation, she wrote in a hospital report.
"When the nurse went into [the] patient holding [area], he was clinically dead," Cronin said.
When Laughon was taken to the hospital from the jail, police said it was for a mental evaluation after he broke from a restraint chair and fought officers. Laughon has a long history of seizures that cause aggressive behavior, Cronin said.
An inmate referral report to the hospital said Laughon was combative and uncooperative and would swing at medical staff.
Undersheriff Frank Mackesy said Tuesday that Laughon had fought with officers three times in three days but had nothing more noticeable than scrapes and bruises.
"We had no way of knowing he had any internal injuries when he left here," Mackesy said. He said police later learned he had several broken ribs but were told those injuries could be caused by aggressive CPR.
Laughon had been jailed about a month on a marijuana possession charge and fought with officers in the days leading up to Feb. 22. He was in the restraint chair for attacking an officer, according to a police incident report.
During a routine check about 2:20 a.m., a corrections officer found Laughon out of the restraints and on a bench. The report said Laughon charged the officer, slamming him with a door and knocking him down before attacking a second officer, who was cornered. Officers from other parts of the jail were called to restrain Laughon, the report said. One corrections officer suffered a broken finger in the fights and Laughon had grabbed one officer by the hair and banged her face on the floor, Mackesy said.
Laughon continued to resist, even in restraints. He was placed in a van and taken to Shands Jacksonville for treatment of minor injuries, the report said.
Cronin said the family is not disputing that Laughon fought with corrections officers. He said police characterized the physical injuries as minor and that Laughon was driven to the hospital for a mental health evaluation.
Cronin said Laughon had closed head injuries and nine broken ribs in his back, five on the right side and four on the left.
"The injuries he had are not consistent with what he has sustained with a seizure," Cronin said.
When Laughon was jailed in January, medication to control the seizures was taken to the jail but he told his mother he did not get the doses. Cronin said a second inmate told the family the same thing.
Mackesy said privacy laws do not allow the release of information about what medications Laughon may have been taking.
Cronin said Laughon was taking Lamictal, which is used to control bipolar disorders and epilepsy. Laughon has been under treatment for seizures since a head injury in an auto accident when he was 19.
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/051105/met_18707760.shtml
Lamictol can be fatal. That's one of the side effects. I'm surprised that's not mentioned in any of the articles. Whether this convict is PVS or not, they'll fight harder to keep him alive to avoid litigation with the mother.