Lawsuit claim: Jasper County Sheriff's Office, Carthage PD actions led to death of Carthage man

A controlled meth buy set up by the Carthage Police Department led directly to the death of a Carthage man, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed July 22 in Jasper County Circuit Court.

When Daniel Holden Jr., 38, was arrested July 26, 2018,, he swallowed 13 grams of methamphetamine and died, according to the lawsuit, which was filed by his parents, Daniel and Leisha Holden and his children.

Listed as defendants in the lawsuit are Jasper County Sheriff Randee Kaiser, the City of Carthage, Carthage Police Chief Greg Dagnan, CPD officers Brandon Walker, Marcus Wicks and Justin Butler and Jasper County corrections officers Becky Stevens, Donald Frossard and Cameron Phinney.

The events that led to Holden's death are detailed in the petition:

On July 26, 2018, Officers Brandon Walker and Justin Butler of the Carthage Police Department worked out a plan to set up Mr. Holden and arrest him for possession of methamphetamine.

Officer Walker states in his report he received information from (a woman) alleging that Mr. Holden was at another location and was in possession of a firearm and methamphetamine.

Officer Walker, and Sgt. Justin Butler, who was also present, directed (the woman) to pick up Mr. Holden and "drive northbound on S. Baker and westbound on W. Macon."  (The woman) did as she was told and Officer Walker at 1:25 a.m. initiated a traffic stop as the vehicle traveled west on Macon Street.

In his report, Officer Walker states that the stop was initiated based on the vehicle swerving in and out of both lanes of travel, while in body cam footage Officer Walker states the stop was made due to a license plate bulb not working.

Immediately after the stop is made, the focus is turned to the passenger of the vehicle, Mr. Holden and Sgt. Butler directs him to exit the vehicle and he is searched finding nothing on his person and the "firearm" is found in the car and officers note that it is only a BB gun.

For approximately 15 minutes, officers search the car and question Mr. Holden. While he is restrained and being detained, other law enforcement officers with Carthage Police Department visit freely with (the woman) behind a separate patrol car and get ideas from her as to where Mr. Holden put the methamphetamine he allegedly had in his possession.

Although officers found no firearm and had not found any illegal substance on Mr. Holden's person he was detained, read his Miranda rights at 1:35 a.m. and transferred to Jasper County at 1:39 a.m. while officers performed a pretend sobriety test on (the woman) in order to give Mr. Holden the impression that she was being investigated for DWI until a car was a sufficient distance away from the scene that (the woman) could be released safely on her own recognizance.

Upon information and belief, Officer Walker and Sgt. Butler were well aware that there was methamphetamine in Mr. Holland's possession as they had given the methamphetamine to (the woman) for purposes of exercising this "controlled buy operation" and were aware of the amount of methamphetamine, approximately 13 grams, that was in his possession. This belief is further supported by the officer's behavior in body cam footage received by Plaintiffs.

At approximately 1:47 a.m., Officer Wicks with the Carthage Police Department arrived at the Jasper County Detention Center with Mr. Holden and with the assistance of Corporal Frossard of the Jasper County Sheriff's Office took pictures of Mr. Holden's face because he had a white, powdery substance in and around his mouth.

At 1.58 a.m. Officer Wicks reported to dispatch "it looks like he ate it- there is blood all in his mouth."

Corporal Frossard then enlisted the help of Sgt. Phinney and moved Mr. Holden to the "booking shower" and conducted a strip search. During the search, a "small clear bag" was found and then officers dressed Mr. Holden and according to Corporal Frossard's report, placed him in the attorney room for observation.

Approximately 2:10 a.m., Deputy Tiffany reports Mr. Holden was "shaking violently and was spitting up a clear substance," and notified Corporal Frossard who also observed Mr. Holden shaking violently and spitting up.

Instead of immediately calling for an ambulance to get immediate medical care, Sgt. Phinney, Corporal Frossard and Deputy Tiffany went to the attorney room and interrogated Mr. Holden as to whether he had swallowed anything before he was arrested and brought to the jail, according to Deputy Tiffany's report.

Deputy Tiffany further reports that there were three attempts to get a blood pressure on Mr. Holden with no result because the cuff that was being used showed an error. Then he left the room and when he returned Corporal Frossard had applied a pulse ox to Mr. Holden which showed a "BPM of 100 and an O2 of 88."

After receiving this information, Deputy Tiffany reports that Sgt. Phinney went to retrieve a drug field test kit and he tested the "spit up" and it tested positive for methamphetamine.

According to reports, it was approximately 16 minutes after they noticed Mr. Holden violently shaking and puking that Corporal Frossard attempted to contact higher ranking individuals to get guidance, still not having contacted emergency medical personnel. It wasn't until 2:45 a.m. that EMS was notified to respond to the jail.

Upon information and belief Jasper County Jail supervisors including Becky Stevens had instituted a standing directive that emergency medical services were not to be called until cleared by a supervisor. Correctional officers tried for more than half an hour to get clearance from Deputy Stevens to contact EMS.

At 3 a.m. EMS arrived at the jail and was advised that Mr. Holden had ingested "an unknown amount of methamphetamine." At 3:05 a.m. he was placed in the ambulance and at 3:10 a.m. Mr. Holden "appeared to stiffen up in a seizure" and restraints were removed.

CPR was started at 3:11 a.m. and Carthage Police Department was notified and Deputy Potts with Jasper County Sheriff's Office told them that since Mr. Holden's charges were with them that they should notify next of kin. 

At 3:23 a.m., CPD Deputy Potts received a call back from CPD asking if they were going to notify next of kin. It wasn't until 3:20 a.m. while EMS was en route to the hospital that Captain Stevens of the Jasper County Sheriff's Office advised deputies to release Holden from custody.

CPD responded to the residence of Leisha Holden and Daniel Holden, Sr. to notify them their son was at Mercy Hospital in Carthage and while speaking with them the officer at the residence was notified of Mr. Holden's death and he contemporaneously notified the parents.

After approximately 35 minutes of attempts to resuscitate Daniel D. Holden Jr. was pronounced dead at 3:46 a.m. July 26, 2018. The medical examiner, Ransom A. Ellis IV, D. O. later declared the cause of death to be "acute methamphetamine intoxication."

The three-count lawsuit alleges wrongful death, failure to provide medical care and lack of training and improper policies by the two law enforcement departments, including the Carthage Police Department's use of controlled buys.

The plaintiffs are asking for actual, compensatory and punitive damages and policy changes, as well as  apologies from each defendant.