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When a man dies in custody, authorities ask why, and await toxicology results. The veteran officer is on paid leave.
By JAMIE JONES, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 18, 2003
NEW PORT RICHEY -- The Sheriff's Office has said little about the 36-year-old man who died after he was arrested on Monday.
And don't expect details soon.
It could take weeks before toxicology tests return, providing insight into how Robert M. Mazzuca died while in the custody of Deputy Paul Slater, said sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll.
Slater arrested Mazzuca at a Port Richey bank at 12:30 p.m. on a charge of using forged documents. The deputy said he found cocaine on Mazzuca and took him to an interview room at the Sheriff's Office.
About 2 p.m., Mazzuca had a seizure and later died. The cocaine is missing, and investigators believe Mazzuca, who has a history of drug arrests, possibly ate the evidence.
Slater, who worked for the New York City Police Department for 20 years before joining the Sheriff's Office, is on paid leave.
Dr. Bob Louden, director of the Criminal Justice Center at John Jay College in New York, said a case of a suspect ingesting drugs after an arrest would violate some basic tenets of police procedure.
After an arrest, one of the officer's first duties is to search a suspect for weapons or evidence. If an officer finds illegal drugs, the officer should immediately take the drugs and begin logging them into evidence.
"You separate them in every sense of the word," he said.
Louden said he could envision a circumstance in which a deputy placed drugs in a room with a suspect during an interrogation to reinforce the seriousness of the charges. However, a suspect should never have access to the drugs while in custody, Louden said.
"You wouldn't leave the subject and the material alone in the room," he said.
The Sheriff's Office has declined to say whether Mazzuca was alone, or how much of the drug was present.
Slater, 47, retired after two decades as an officer and detective with the New York City Police Department. He joined the Sheriff's Office in November 2000.
"Being of help to the public and improving people's qualify of life has always given me great satisfaction," he wrote in his application.
In an evaluation for the last three months of 2001, Slater's supervisor, Jack Armstrong, rated his performance as below standard in the area of caring for people in custody.
Armstrong said a victim in a battery case had complained about Slater after the victim and suspect got into an argument and had to be separated.
"Deputy Slater has difficulty reasoning through some problems and has made some poor decisions on investigations ..." Armstrong wrote in the evaluation.
At that time, Slater told supervisors he would do his "best to correct any deficiencies observed," records show.
In his most recent annual evaluation in March, Slater's supervisor said he met standards in all categories.
Spokesman Doll said Slater has not been formally disciplined during his time at the agency. He said the only formal complaint he could find about Slater came from one of his neighbors, who said Slater used profanities and bumped him in the chest in January. The complaint was unsubstantiated, the Sheriff's Office found.
Doll said Slater could remain on paid leave until the investigation is complete, or supervisors could decide to bring him back earlier.
"There are certain ways to ascertain if he's ready to come back," Doll said. "We're prohibited from spelling those out to the public."
Earlier this year, Mazzuca was arrested on charges of possessing cocaine, marijuana and narcotics equipment. His criminal record shows he has previous convictions for possessing marijuana and narcotics equipment.