MIAMI - The Department of Juvenile Justice suspended 14 employees Monday at a juvenile prison where a 17-year-old died three days after his appendix burst.
A report by the department found several Miami-Dade Regional Detention Center officers failed to provide emergency care to Omar Paisley after he was found balled up in his cell suffering from vomiting and diarrhea.
The report cites 11 officers, three supervisors and a department nurse for a variety of rule violations, including failing to provide aid to Paisley and failing to properly document the illness.
The report also said a supervisor told a 911 operator that Paisley was conscious and breathing when in fact he was not breathing and had little or no pulse. Other officers failed to provide CPR even though they were trained to do so.
The report also said a supervisor enlisted other jailed juveniles to clean up Paisley and his cell because he didn't want to expose officers to a possibly dangerous virus.
"I am outraged by the across-the-board inaction by so many at the Miami-Dade Regional facility," said interim department Secretary C. George Denman. "That no one reached out to save a person in our care is profoundly disturbing."
Paisley had been in the 226-bed jail for just a day when he began complaining he was ill. He wrote in a request to see a doctor, "My stomach hurts really bad. I don't know what to do."
He spent three days in worsening pain before he died.
Four other department employees have either resigned or been dismissed, including the facilities superintendent, the division chief, regional director and Assistant Secretary Larry Lumpee - the No. 3 person in the department.
In January, nurses Gaile Tucker Loperfido and Dianne Marie Demeritte were charged with third-degree murder and child abuse manslaughter. Both worked for a private contractor.
