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Linda Tant Miller
MURDERED BY COLORADO
EMILY RAE RICE
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DEAR EMILY
Letters from Mommy
I always said I would feel my child’s pain…that I would always know if something was wrong. When Emily laid in that cell and was dying, begging, crying, I never heard a word. I must have had to have lied to myself, and to her, all of her beautiful life. I believed that she was ok.
I am one of you, a nurse, and I trusted you with my child. You let her bleed to death. I don’t want to know how many times she must have called my name. I don’t want to know why she didn’t tell you that her Mother was a nurse, but I know why she didn’t. She never wanted to buy her way into anything - she always wanted to do all of that on her own.
I know what my child went through and so do you. The pain, the gurgling her voice must have made at the end. And I wake up every day of my life, now without her, knowing the pain she endured.
All of you sleep at night…I do not. There is not a night that I sleep through, not a night that I don’t wake up, begging for her to forgive me for believing in you.
I the past year I have aged 20. But it doesn’t matter anymore, nothing does, except her Sister Ginny…the one that idolized her, the one that cries in my arms, because I always promised her that no matter what happened to her Father and I, she would always have Emily. She has Emily now - her ashes in her bedroom, that she sleeps with every night.
I sleep with her sweatshirt that she wore the night before she so needlessly passed away. It still has little deep spots that smell of her. In my top dresser drawer I have the clothes she wore the night she died. When I can’t smell that sweatshirt anymore, of her, I wonder if I will ever be able to take out those clothes she wore that night, just to smell her again. I don’t know the answer to that yet.
I will never be able to get through my feelings, let alone holding Roy, her Father when he cried in my arms saying, “I don’t know if I can do this”, and I said, “Yes you can, you have to for Ginny.” And that is after we had been divorced for over 5 years. Don’t you see, don’t you know what Family is?
You did not only kill Emily, you are killing Me, Roy and Ginny. Breath by breath. Ginny tried to kill herself on the anniversary of Emily’s death...she looked and Roy and I and said, “I don’t want to live without Emily anymore.” How do you think that feels… all of you...
You very unkind people, with your lives as you believe them to be, have taken souls. How well do you sleep?
With all my Heart, with all My Soul, I pity you.
God save Emily. Let her rest with her Great Grandmother who fluffed her feather pillows to watch ‘Murder She Wrote’ while I laid there and listened from the bedroom across from them and smiled.
Of the time that she has been gone I have never dreamed of her, I have begged to, but never have. But Katie has...her best friend. She dreamed that Emily was there with her, Katie realized in her dream that Emily was dead, and she said to her, “Emily, everyone misses you so much.” And Emily raised one eyebrow, as she always used to do…She didn’t know she was dead…She didn’t know.
The other dream was from Ginny…she wears Emily’s rings on her fingers. She dreamed that Emily was falling… That Emily was hanging on to her… that she lost her grip and Emily fell… and all she had left were her rings on her fingers.
You had every opportunity to save Emily. My child, Roy’s child, Ginny’s sister, everyone’s best Friend. You chose not to.
Do you know what you have taken? Do you know what every day is like? I think that you do not. And I think you will not…until it happens to one of yours. But will it? It never happened to one of mine, we were always so lucky…until now...
With all of My Love and My Heart to You, Emily
Mommy
Emily's mom, Sue holding Emily's sweatshirt
How do I change this, stop this?
I have two lives, my one that I go to every day.
And then my night, my torture, my need to hear Emily come back in that door and say, “Mommy, I brought you food.” Or, “Mommy, your friends are on your bed.” That would be Kitty and Minnie sleeping on me every night when she came home and she peeked in my bedroom. And then I slept, knowing she was home and safe, with Ginny.
How, In God’s name, can anyone discount her beautiful spirit? She LOVED everything that ever passed her peripheral vision. She saved angry dogs, tadpoles, her friends, she believed in good. She believed life was a gift. And, God, did she know?
I will never forget when she stood in front of me and sang ‘I Will Survive’, when she stood in front of me and said, ‘Mommy, look, I can do Irish dance’.. and she did.
And I miss her.
And so does Ginny. And so does Roy. And so does Zach, and Mikie, and Uncle Dan, and Auntie Byrd, and Aunt Mardie and Uncle Sam, and Granny and Grandpa Mac, and Grandpa Millit.. and on.. and on..
And she laughed. And she taught.. and she said, ‘Mommy, my lifeline isn’t long’.. and I told her, ‘Oh Baby, that’s just stuff, don’t worry, you are fine.’ And I lied. I lied to her.
And we laughed, and laughed. We made monkeys together the Christmas before she died. We laughed about the clowns that Corey gave us.
My God, My God, her laugh, her smell, her presence. Her heart, her tears, her Soul.
I knew, I knew, she was so far above me, she scared me to death, I used to tell my Mom, her Granny, ‘She scares me to death. She is so beautiful, she is so perfect.’ It was not about just her physical beauty, it was about her spirit, her soul that danced, so far beyond where I could catch her. I would try and bring her back in with my logic.. ‘Emily, no, not all the world is good, be careful, not everyone loves like you do.’ ‘Not everyone trusts the way you do.’ But she wasn’t meant to listen, she flew, she soared. She was magical..
Raise one eyebrow Emily, raise one now, the way you used to do. Shame on them, shame on them.
God Baby, I miss you and shame on me, now I need to sing your songs. Now I need to be as strong as you always were, I need to scare them the way you scared me. If I can get to your level, I will scare them to death, and I will, I promise. I will not let you down. Nor will any of us, we are all right here.. we are all right here.
LETTER FROM BABY SISTER GINNY
I've been trying for a long time to put into words my feelings, and thoughts, and memories of my sister. It never comes out right. Every time I read over it again, it doesn't seem like my feelings went into it. I think it's because I really can't express my feelings. It's impossible. Even in my letters to her, I can't do it.
I'm going to try one last time. I don't really know why. I just want to.
Emily was something to me that I truly believe nobody will ever know. You can say that you have a big sister who's your hero and your best friend, but you can never know what me and Emily had, because only me and Emily understood it. I can't explain what it was. It was beyond any sisterhood, or friendship, or anything of the sort. And it was better than two people being one, because our differences kept each other real. It gave me confidence and it gave her modesty.
She was like nobody else in this world, and that much I can guarantee you. You can be skeptical, and say, "oh she's got to be a little biased, they were sisters" but if that's something you're saying, then don't even read the rest of this, because your brain cannot even begin to comprehend who she was.
She was there for me in ways that nobody else has ever been, or will ever be. And she taught me things that can never be forgotten. I regret to say, she taught me her biggest lesson after her death. And I couldn't even learn from it until long after her death.
She taught me how to live. I mean, really live. I never saw a single day where she had a regret, or where she wasn't having fun. She lived every day as that day. Not as a stepping stone to the future, and not as a mile marker of the past. Just, as that day.
I recognized this lesson almost directly after her death, and I tried to carry it out, to live as Emily had lived, but I couldn't. I couldn't get past the fact that Emily is past tense. I still can't, but I'm beginning to realize it's fact. Yes, I tried to commit suicide after my sister died. It was a few nights before our vigil on the anniversary of her death, I didn't want to deal with it. I didn't want to deal with accepting her fate. I didn't want to deal with a life she wasn't part of.
She was the only person I knew would always be there, but I was wrong. And I couldn't handle that. But to this day, I'm convinced she's the reason I didn't die that day. And when I think about her, I can just picture her saying, "quit being such a sissy, Inny Bug, you have to learn how to deal with things like this. God."
Ha, she always kept me in check, on my toes with my fists up. And when I couldn't get them up, she put them up for me. She was my defender, and at times, my entire backbone.
When I came home crying because of bullies, she told me, "Ginny, when I was in sixth grade, I was a huge reject. Don't worry, you'll blossom."
I remember one time, I was sad about boyfriend issues, and she took me up to the roof, and sat next to me and said, "See, Inny Bug? Now you have your own place. So you can just sit, and think, and be away from everything."
She always listened to this song by Modest Mouse, called "Float On." That's how she lived, the chorus of the song is, "And we'll all float on ok." She knew the future would come one way or another, and she didn't panic about it.
Every time I find myself talking to her, or inadvertently wondering where she is, that song comes on the radio. We had this song, it was like our, "we're kooky sisters" song. It was "Here In Your Bedroom" by Goldfinger. I remember when I was doubting she was still around, I asked for a sign. An unmistakable one. The next day, I was sifting through her things. I found the cd booklet to Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and opened it up. On the page with the lyrics to "Candle In The Wind" (The song played at her funeral) I found the Goldfinger cd with "Here In Your Bedroom" on it, which had been lost for years.
Since her death, I've looked for a song to match my feelings regarding her death. Only three have come close. I really urge you if your interested to look at these songs. The first is a song actually titled "Emily." It's by the band From First To Last. I heard it one day when my boyfriend was playing it on guitar. The second is "Run" by snow patrol. Not necessarily the whole song, but definitely the part that says, "Light up, light up, as if you had a choice." She always glowed, she couldn't help it. And the last is "This Time Imperfect." By AFI.
There's also a song written about her. By a band called Aloft In The Sundry. You see, after her death, I found a cd in her car, and I never knew what it was. I referred to it as "the mystery cd" until one day I found an empty cd case. I looked at the lyrics for the heck of it, and found out that this "mystery cd" was Manuscript Novella by Aloft In The Sundry. I found them on myspace, and thought I'd give a try to asking the lead singer, Jason Hernandez, if he knew Emily. This is what he told me:
"I definately remember her.
In fact, we played Herman's on the same night as her accident. it was snowy and in February I think... the 15th maybe.
We played, and Emily shared a shot of Jack with me and we talked for a while. I gave her our CD. She was incredibly warm. So beautiful, in fact, that this ugly world couldn't let her stay. I heard the news a couple days later, it broke me in ways that I couldn't have expected. Even though we had only just met as acquaintances, I felt a stronger connection than that. We had laughed, smiled and understood one another. Something I don't usually find between people these days. I'll be honest; I cried knowing how close I was and how far away I ended up. I still feel guilty that we had been drinking together and only she had such a painful ending.
I went on to write the song 'Catch This, Copernicus' in thought and memory of her. It's a story about two astronauts that find themselves within extreme misfortune and only when they are so far away do they realize how beautiful things can be. (the full lyric is up at our myspace page) by the time I had finished it, almost a week had gone by and thus the line 'everything has changed in the last 6 days.'
I'll never forget and feel honored to have known her.
I hope this finds you in pleasant memories of such a wonderful being.
onelove,
You see, this is the effect Emily had on people. When she met somebody, she offered her whole self. She hugged instead of shook hands, she didn't hold back, and she loved everybody with her entire being. This is one example of many.
There were more than 300 people at her funeral, because Emily didn't have acquaintances. She had only friends. Everybody that knew her loved her. Not a single person who talked her could ever look back and say, "yeah I remember that girl, I talked to her one night at this place." No. Everybody will say, "Emily Rice. I loved her. She was my best friend," or, "my hero," or, "my lover." It was never anything less.
As I said before; She was something nobody will ever be able to explain. There are no words. In any language. Except for these:
She was Emily.
I love you Mimi, and I think of you every day. I hope you follow us to Arizona, and wherever else life may take us.
--Inny Bug.
FAMILY OF WOMAN WHO DIED IN DENVER JAIL
THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
By Bianca Prieto
The family of a woman who died last year while in the care of Denver sheriff's deputies plans to announce the filing of a lawsuit against the city today.
Emily Rae Rice, 24, died in jail on Feb. 19, 2006, of internal injuries suffered in a car accident the day before.
The woman's family contends that doctors who treated her before sending her to jail, as well as jail guards and employees, are responsible for her death because they failed to provide her with appropriate medical attention.
The family and its lawyers will appear at 11 a.m. at the City and County Building to announce the lawsuit.
Doctors treated Rice at Denver Health Medical Center after the accident and then sent her to jail on suspicion of drunken driving. She died 20 hours later after complaining for hours and asking for medical attention, her family said. Her pleas were ignored, they said.
The family plans to name the city, Denver Health and Hospitals, and several doctors, nurses and jail guards in the lawsuit, according to a news release issued by the Rice family's lawyers, Darold Killmer and Mari Newman.
"Despite having reported significant pain, and despite the fact that she had just been involved in a violent car accident, no tests were run on her, and vital signs were not taken upon her discharge to the Denver Jail," the news release states.
Denver Health has declined to comment.
PARENTS SUE OVER JAIL DEATH
Emily Rice, hurt in a crash, was checked at Denver Health
DENVER POST
By Felisa Cardona
The parents of Emily Rae Rice, a woman who died at the city jail, filed a civil lawsuit against Denver Health Medical Center and the city and county of Denver on Monday.
Rice, 24, was injured in a traffic collision at 6:50 a.m. on Feb. 18, 2006. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.121 percent, above the legal limit for drivers in Colorado.
Rice was taken by ambulance to Denver Health and then booked into the jail. Twenty hours later, she was found dead.
An autopsy showed she died from internal bleeding and had a lacerated liver and spleen.
"The city needs to make moves to improve the system," said Darold Killmer, the Rice family attorney. "In this case, the system failed at virtually every turn."
Two doctors, six nurses and 19 sheriff's employees are named in the lawsuit that was filed in Denver District Court alleging that Rice's constant pleas for help were ignored.
The suit says doctors and medical personnel neglected to treat her internal injuries before sending her off to be booked. It also says that once in the jail, nurses and deputies dismissed her complaints and allowed her to suffer until she died.
About 3 p.m., the suit says, Rice told a guard that she was feeling ill and she was allowed to speak to a registered nurse.
The nurse "simply looked at her records and cleared her, telling her that she was drunk and needed to 'sleep it off,"' the lawsuit says. "At this point, Ms. Rice had been in custody for over seven hours since her blood-alcohol was measured at 0.121, and thus could not have been drunk."
Moments later, Rice's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fainted to the floor, the suit says. A deputy summoned the nurse again and the complaint says the nurse mocked her, told her to "stop being dramatic" and ordered her to stand up.
Marlena Fernandez Berkowitz, spokeswoman for Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, said she could not talk
About the lawsuit, but expressed sympathy for the family's loss.
Dee Martinez, spokeswoman for Denver Health, would not comment on the merits of the lawsuit.
"Every loss of life is difficult for the families and friends, and also for health care providers," Martinez wrote in a prepared statement. "Denver Health ... wishes to express deep and heartfelt sympathy to the family and friends of Emily. It is disheartening that this has advanced to the courtroom."
Rice's mother, Susan Garber, said she tried to bail her daughter out of jail about 6:45 p.m., but was not allowed to see her.
Hours later, Rice was found dead, face-down in the cell.
"Because they suspected she was under the influence, they treated her like she was a drunk," said her father, Roy Rice.
Rice's family has said they want $10 million from the city, but her father said it's just a number.
"Whatever the jury awards - it's up to them," he said. "And I hope they punish them real hard."
A YEAR AFTER JAIL DEATH, PROTESTERS SEEK ANSWERS
DENVER POST
By Felisa Cardona
A year ago today, Emily Rae Rice bled to death and was found facedown on the floor of Denver's city jail, hours after she was arrested in an alcohol- related crash.
On Sunday morning, dozens of friends, family members and activists from Denver CopWatch began a 24-hour vigil outside the jail to express outrage over the way she died.
They played music, held signs that read, "The longer she pled, the more she bled," and chanted for justice in her name.
Rice was drinking before the crash, her parents acknowledge, but they say her injuries were then ignored by doctors at Denver Health Medical Center and by Denver sheriff's deputies who worked in the jail.
A call to the city for comment was not returned.
In the crash, Rice, who was 24, lacerated her liver, ruptured her spleen and broke several ribs, but she was not treated for those injuries after she arrived by ambulance at the hospital, said her mother, Sue Garber.
Rice, an aspiring fashion designer who idolized Marilyn Monroe, was taken from the hospital and booked into jail on suspicion of drunken driving and for unresolved traffic tickets.
Rice passed out during her booking and repeatedly told deputies that she needed help and that she was in pain, Garber said.
Other female inmates in close proximity to Rice told her parents they also begged deputies to help Rice when they noticed she was in severe pain.
"They were yelling for someone to come and help her," Garber said.
Rice's parents have filed an intent to sue the city and county of Denver for $10 million for wrongful death and violating Rice's civil rights.
"It's not about the money," Garber said. "We want this to never happen to someone else's child. This is something horrible that needs to be fixed."
Rice's 19-year-old sister, Ginny, said her sister began skateboarding when she was in middle school and wanted to
create a clothing line called Zexx for that specific clientele.
Rice's father, Roy Rice, described his daughter as a stylish woman who always woke up with a smile on her face, even if she wasn't feeling well. She loved blond icons such as Monroe because she identified with their struggles with weight and feelings of being misunderstood.
Roy Rice says he has tried to get information about her death from city officials, the hospital and the Denver district attorney's office, to no avail.
The investigation into Rice's death has not been completed, and it has taken too long, her father said.
"They can take their money and keep it," Roy Rice said. "They need to fire the people who killed my daughter."
Although Rice was legally drunk when she had the two-car accident - Rice's blood-alcohol content was 0.12 percent - her family said she had never been in serious trouble with the law.
"She made a mistake," Roy Rice said. "She would have paid for that if they had given her the opportunity."
DENVER INDEPENDENT MONITOR
Parents Of Emily Rice Call Report Empty
Channel 7 News
Tom Burke and Tony Kovaleski
DENVER -- Several Denver Sheriff's Deputies have been suspended or received other discipline following the death of 24-year-old Emily Rice. State investigators say she died from untreated internal injuries while in the custody of the Denver Sheriff's Department.
Denver's Independent Monitor, Richard Rosenthal, said he stands by his report released Monday detailing the discipline some deputies received, however Emily's parents accused the Independent Monitor of covering-up for the city.
"It's not just about Emily when the cover up becomes this big," Emily's mother Sue Garber told 7NEWS.
In Feb. 2006, Garber's daughter was wheeled on a gurney from her cell in Denver's jail and pronounced dead at Denver Health Medical Center, the same hospital from which she was released on the previous day.
Rice had suffered a lacerated liver and spleen in a drunk driving crash. Legal documents indicate doctors and nurses at Denver Health failed to identify her injuries and after several hours turned her over to the Sheriff's Department for booking.
According to police reports, Emily repeatedly told deputies that she was in pain and needed help.
The next morning she was dead.
"We asked for them to please tell us what happened to our daughter and they essentially said nothing happened. If you want more information you need to sue us," Garber told 7NEWS.
She accused the city of creating a smokescreen with insignificant discipline for procedural matters and is not holding anyone accountable for her daughter's death.
Two deputies were suspended, and a supervisor and third deputy received letters of reprimand, all for failing to properly conduct or supervise rounds and falsified documents.
A fourth deputy resigned during the investigation, avoiding any discipline.
"To say nothing was wrong means nothing gets fixed and that means it will happen again and to me that's a tragedy. Just to fill up pieces of paper with emptiness is a cover-up. That's not addressing any of the critical points that happened to my daughter," said Garber.
The Independent Monitor's report also mentioned video obtained exclusively by 7NEWS.
The video showed Emily leaning on a wall in the jail while she's being booked and then it cuts to black for 64-seconds.
When the video returned, it showed Emily lying on the floor with deputies standing around her.
Rosenthal concluded the 64-second gap was a technical error, which he based on a letter received by the surveillance system's vendor.
The letter indicated there was no evidence of tampering, but the author of the letter told 7NEWS in December that the city has misinterpreted his letter.
Gary Warren told 7NEWS the video could have been tampered with using a "back door" and no one would know about it. He explained that his letter is not definitive proof tampering did not exist.
Sources have also told 7NEWS that the 64-seconds of video existed shortly after Emily's death.
This information was not included in Rosenthal's report.
Rosenthal declined an interview to address the accusations leveled by Emily's parents, but told 7NEWS that he stands by his report.
DEAD INMATE'S FAMILY
My Fox Colorado
By Charlie Brennan
DENVER -- A city report on the death of a young woman in 2006 at the Denver City Jail concluded that gaps in surveillance tapes showing events leading up to and including her collapse are the results of technical problems and not the sign of a coverup.
The report on the death of 24-year-old Emily Rae Rice, issued by the office of Independent Monitor Richard A. Rosenthal, also states that a jail deputy who was permitted to resign, should have been fired.
Overall, the family of Rice, and the lawyer representing them in a lawsuit against multiple city agencies and employees named and unnamed, are far less than satisfied with the report.
“It's essentially a lot of words without much substance,” said her mother. “I'm not surprised by it. It's pretty much what I expected them to put out - which is essentially, nothing.”
Attorney Darold Killmer, who is handling the Rice’s lawsuit against the city – which is unlikely to each a jury prior to April 2009- was similarly unimpressed.
“I'm very disappointed that the monitor is engaging, as the city has been and as Denver Health (Medical Center) has been, in a cover up as to who is accountable for Emily's death” Feb. 19, 2006, Killmer said.
“The monitor works for the city, gets paid by the city and is beholden to the city. This report shows us that it's just more of the same and he's going to cover the city's backside, when he gets the chance.”
Rice was injured in an accident Feb. 18, 2006, which resulted in her arrest for suspected drunken driving. After being treated at Denver Health Medical center, she was released to the jail at about 3 p.m. that day, roughly 10 hours after the accident.
After arriving at the Denver jail, she complained she felt poorly, but was allegedly told she needed to “sleep it off.” Her condition continued to deteriorate over the next several hours, and, according to the family and their lawyer, jail personnel failed to heed the urgings of other inmates that she was ill and needed attention.
Jail surveillance video provided to the family’ lawyer, which contains at least one 1:04-gap – plus, they say, numerous others – shows Rice at first sagging against a wall in a jailhouse corridor, then collapsing, appearing to hold her stomach.
Rice failed to leave her cell the following morning for breakfast, and told one guard she was unable to feel her feet. A short time later, she told a fellow detainee she couldn’t move her legs.
A short time later, she was found unresponsive in her cell, and it was later determined that she died at 6:52 a.m. Feb. 19, almost exactly 24 hours after the accident that led to her arrest and incarceration.
The three recommendations stemming from Rosenthal’s report on the Rice case are:
• That the exact timing deputies’ jail rounds be noted more precisely.
• That the Denver Sheriff’s Office seek “immediate upgrades” to the city jail’s video recording system.
• That the city’s Denver Health contract be amended to ensure the cooperation of nurses in any in-custody death investigation” in which they are witnesses.
But Rice’s mother is far short of satisfied.
“They continue to smokescreen and cover up and choose to place their important positions and powers over the death of my daughter,” said Garber. ‘If they choose to do that with Emily, who is next? And what else are they covering up, that we still don't know about?”
DEPUTIES NOT BLAMED IN DEATH
Report confirms that jail records falsified, however
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
By Sue Lindsay
Nearly two years after 24-year- old Emily Rice bled to death while screaming for help in the Denver City Jail, the city's police monitor confirmed Monday that deputies failed to make all required rounds, then falsified records to cover up their misconduct.
But Independent Police Monitor Richard Rosenthal stopped short of blaming the deputies for the young woman's death.
The conclusions - made public in the monitor's annual report - were met with outrage by Rice's supporters, who say the report fails to address why she died and why her cries were ignored.
"It's like the Titanic sinks, and he says the deck chairs needed polishing," family attorney Darold Killmer said.
Two deputies were disciplined and a third quit before discipline could be imposed for falsifying records about rounds they claimed to have made, according to the report.
Rosenthal also acknowledged that there were gaps in the jail's video surveillance system, but concluded they were not the result of deliberate tampering.
"It's appalling," Rice's mother, Sue Garber, said Monday. "There has been such a huge coverup already, I never believed they would turn around and tell the truth. But it makes me sad."
Lawyer sees 'evil'
Killmer criticized Rosenthal, who was hired by the city to bring more oversight to police, saying he "rubber-stamped" the conclusions of the internal investigation and Denver Manager of Safety Al LaCabe.
"This report is intended to give the appearance of independent review, and that makes it even more evil. Whatever the safety manager and sheriff say is fine with him," Killmer said.
Rice was booked into the jail as a result of a traffic accident on Feb. 18, 2006. Records show she slammed her car into another car as she turned toward a gas station at East Hampden Avenue and Happy Canyon Road.
Injured, she was taken first to Denver Health Medical Center, where doctors cleared her for release to the jail.
A breath test showed that Rice's blood alcohol content was 0.121 percent. Driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 percent or more is illegal.
Jail staff described the new inmate as "uncooperative" and dismissed her complaints as the rants of an intoxicated "drama queen," then ignored her cries for help - cries that went on for hours before she died early Feb. 19, 2006, records show.
Several hours after she was brought to the jail, Rice showed signs she was not well, collapsing on the floor.
Jail nurse Kelly Costin stood over her writhing body but failed to examine her, the records show.
An autopsy later revealed that Rice had a 7-inch gash in her liver and a ruptured spleen.
Rosenthal's report was limited to the conduct of sheriff's officials. He does not have the authority, he said Monday, to evaluate conduct by Denver Health nurses employed by the jail.
Rice's family has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, the hospital and nearly 50 deputies, jail guards, doctors and nurses.
LaCabe had the responsibility of imposing discipline for the deputies who are still employed by the sheriff's office.
LaCabe's office identified them as Amanda Line and Julie Kirkbride, but gave no further details.
Rosenthal's report shows that both were suspended for three days for false documentation. One also was cited for failing to notify nursing staff of the need to immediately examine Rice when she arrived at the jail.
Rosenthal said he agreed with LaCabe that more severe discipline wasn't warranted because Rice had just been cleared by doctors at Denver Health.
A third deputy resigned before she was disciplined. Rosenthal said she should have been fired for false documentation and lying to internal affairs. The monitor did not identify her, but Killmer, the Rice family's lawyer, said she is Lakisha Forrest Minter.
Cautionary letters were issued to the deputies' supervisor and a fourth deputy.
Efforts to determine what took place during Rice's stay at the jail - including what rounds actually occurred - were undermined by gaps in the jail's video system, Rosenthal said. However, he said he was convinced that the gaps resulted from technical problems.
Those deficiencies have been corrected, he said.
Time frame criticized
The city has been criticized for delays in its investigation, but Rosenthal said the delays were necessary and "acceptable." The criminal probe took seven months before the Denver district attorney's office concluded that no criminal charges could be filed against the deputies.
The sheriff department's internal affairs investigation began after that, but was thwarted by the refusal of Denver Health Medical Center staff to cooperate or talk to investigators, Rosenthal said.
Rosenthal said an agreement has been reached in which Denver Health staff will cooperate in future investigations.
State regulators have determined that the hospital engaged in "patient dumping" in Rice's case.
A division of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment cited the hospital for failing to properly screen her for injuries, stabilize her before she was transferred to the jail or reassess her condition before she was discharged.
The hospital has declined to comment.
DEPUTY LIED, QUIT AFTER JAIL DEATH
An independent report says the guard deserved to be fired
The Denver Post
By Christopher N. Osher
A Denver sheriff's deputy resigned after she lied about making required rounds in the jail wing where Emily Rae Rice died in 2006, said a report released Monday from the independent monitor's office.
The report from Richard Rosenthal said that if the deputy had not resigned, he would have recommended firing her.
"The integrity of internal affairs investigations should be considered sacrosanct," the report said.
"A deputy who fails to accept responsibility for his or her actions by making false statements to internal affairs should realize that termination is a reasonable response on the part of the department," according to the report.
Police reports have described a chaotic scene the night of Rice's death.
Inmates told investigators that their fellow prisoner, Rice, who had been booked on suspicion of drunken driving, cried for help for hours in her jail cell before she died.
Rice, 24, was booked into the Denver jail on Feb. 18, 2006, after a car crash. She was taken by ambulance to Denver Health Medical Center, where she was examined and then sent to jail.
Rosenthal, whose office oversees internal police and sheriff's investigations, did not release the name of the sheriff's deputy, who resigned in November — on the day her disciplinary hearing was scheduled to take place.
Rosenthal noted that the deputy had previous disciplinary problems pending when she resigned. He did not detail those problems.
Darold Killmer, a lawyer for the Rice family, identified the deputy who resigned as Lakisha Minter. She could not be reached for comment.
Video was inconclusive
Rosenthal's report said gaps in the video footage from jail video cameras the night of the death stemmed from technology problems rather than deliberate tampering.
"As a result of the system's failures, the investigation was unable to conclusively establish when and where rounds were conducted," the report stated.
The report said the video failures made it impossible to prove or disprove misconduct by seven additional deputies in addition to the four deputies who were disciplined.
In addition to the deputy who resigned, two deputies were suspended for three days and another deputy received a "cautionary letter."
The city identified those who received three-day suspensions as deputies Amanda Line and Julie Kirkbride, who could not be reached.
One suspension was for documenting but failing to conduct one round. Another involved documenting but failing to conduct two rounds and failing to notify the staff of the need to examine Rice.
The Rice family has filed a federal lawsuit against the city and Denver Health.
Family critical of report
Rice's mother, Sue Garber, blasted the report from Rosenthal's office.
"I believe it was done to defend the city and not to answer the people," she said of Rosenthal's report.
Killmer said Rosenthal "doesn't want to say anything that will upset his employer, which is the city of Denver. The only time he takes a tough stand is against the one employee who left."
Killmer and Garber said they believe deliberate tampering occurred of the video monitoring system.
Rosenthal said in the report that in November the city made technological improvements in how the city ensures deputies are making their required rounds.
The city is phasing out Digatron Inc., the vendor of the monitoring system, for a new vendor, Rosenthal said.
The new system installed in November requires deputies to pass a wand over an electronic monitor when they finish a round to ensure the required rounds are completed, he said.
Greg Anthony, the chief executive officer of Digatron, denied that software or hardware issues caused the gaps in video monitoring.
"Maybe they didn't set the program right," Anthony said. "Maybe they edited it and deleted the video, I don't know. A computer does what it is told to do."
Rosenthal defended his report.
"Obviously, I can't satisfy everyone, but my job is to be objective and fair," he said.
JOHNSON: Monitor's report rings hollow
Rocky Mountain News
By BILL JOHNSON
The first question I asked after reading the second-to-last section of Richard Rosenthal's report was why Denver's Office of the Independent Monitor even exists.
A young woman is carried away legally drunk and badly injured from the scene of a traffic collision. She is examined at Denver Health Medical Center and then dropped in city jail, where for the next 19 hours, she and other inmates scream for help. Doctors at Denver Health, it turned out, had missed her ruptured spleen and the 7-inch gash in her liver.
"Uncooperative," was the way 24-year-old Emily Rae Rice's handlers in jail described her on Feb. 18, 2006, dismissing her pleas as those of a "drama queen." At hour 19, when she collapsed to the floor, a jail nurse, finally summoned by other inmates' screaming and shoe-banging, stood over her writhing body, not even bothering to examine her. Emily Rae Rice bled to death on that floor.
In Richard Rosenthal's annual report released Monday, the man appointed two years go as independent monitor to bring transparency to the workings of law enforcement in Denver did confirm that deputies failed to make all required rounds through the jail that day, and that they also falsified records to cover up their misconduct.
Yet, he still concluded, they weren't responsible for Emily Rice's ugly and tragic death.The question of how and why she could possibly bleed to death in police custody after nearly a full day in jail, Richard Rosenthal, in his report, does not even remotely address.
How could that be?
Richard Rosenthal gathered himself as we began our conversation.
"I just didn't have all the information I would need to make such a determination," he said. Doctors, nurses and other medical staff who came in contact with Emily Rice at Denver Health that day absolutely refused to cooperate with his investigation, he said. "I had no jurisdiction over them. And based on the other information I could get, I could not fairly reach such a conclusion. All I could do is look at the conduct of the deputies."
To Darold Killmer, the attorney hired by the parents of the dead woman to sue the city, the report "is the reason the words cover-up and whitewash were invented."
In fairness, Richard Rosenthal has long maintained that investigations into the woman's death by his office and by Denver police internal affairs were greatly impeded by Denver Health, which still refuses to allow staff to be interviewed.
"I was frustrated, and remain extremely frustrated . . . that I couldn't do and say more to give a full accounting," he said. "We were substantially hampered."
To Darold Killmer, it is all self-serving pap. "He didn't even bother to interview the people standing within three feet of Emily when she died," he said.
Of the gaps at critical moments on the jail videotapes that day, the attorney said: "How does he know it wasn't intentional editing? Because the sheriff and the manager of safety told him it wasn't? And that was good enough for him?"
"And how can the nurses refuse to cooperate?" Darold Killmer asks. "The DA had concluded no criminal charges would be brought, so no one could plead the Fifth. Why weren't they told by the city to cooperate or be fired?
"What is evil is that everyone and, now, the monitor, has just thrown up their hands and said they were thwarted. No, somebody's child died in their custody."
Richard Rosenthal said confidentiality and ethical rules imposed on him by contract and city charter prevent him from publicly revealing information gleaned from police internal affairs interviews with jail employees.
"It hurts my ability to fully explain," he said.
Of the videotape gaps, Richard Rosenthal said with more certainty than anything he so far has uttered that he reviewed all of it and "absolutely" believes no tampering took place.
He is encouraged, too, he said, that a new videotaping system has been put in place, and that a contract agreement has been reached with Denver Health workers that will allow written answers to his questions in the future.
"So they get one free one?" Darold Killmer asks.
Richard Rosenthal does not respond when I repeat the remark, instead focusing on how he will now "roll out" to every death that occurs in custody, no matter how it occurred. "I understand the issue is transparency, how it leads to good government," he said. "Right now, because of the rules and ethics requirements, I'm waging a battle every day between needed transparency and confidentiality rules . . . I'm working to win it."
It hasn't happened fast enough. Certainly it hasn't for Emily Rae Rice's devastated parents.
And if the man appointed by the mayor to bring transparent light and heightened public accountability to the workings of law enforcement in this town cannot do better than Monday, well, don't continue to insult us. If nothing else, drop the word independent from his title.
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Photo by Barry Gutierrez / The Rocky Mountain News
Hern."
PLAN TO SUE CITY
June 25, 2007
(Post / Cyrus McCrimmon)
Denver Post Staff Write
Denver Post Staff Write
ISSUES REPORT ON JAIL DEATH
CALL7 Investigators
January 7, 2008
BLASTS MONITOR'S REPORT
Last Edited: Tuesday, 08 Jan 2008, 4:04 AM MST
Created: Monday, 07 Jan 2008, 8:59 PM MST
January 8, 2008
January 8, 2008
January 9, 2008
"Factor 8: The Arkansas Prison Blood Scandal"
Factor 8 Documentary website
along with the urls to the linked pages.
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