WASHINGTON (AP) — A Cuban immigrant at a Texas detention center tried to hang himself, was restrained by handcuffed guards and stopped breathing during a subsequent struggle, according to a 911 call from a private security contractor.
A caller identifying himself as Lt. Paul Walden called for emergency help as medical personnel attempted to resuscitate Geraldo Lunas Campos on Jan. 3 at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas. A county medical examiner ruled earlier this week that the death was a homicide.
“He tried to hang himself, and then we put him in handcuffs and he kept going,” Walden said, according to a recording of the call that The Associated Press obtained through a Texas public information request. He did not explain how Lunas Campos tried to hang himself or what happened afterward. The City of El Paso has redacted parts of the appeal to protect medical information.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which oversees Camp East Montana, did not say in its initial statement about the death that Lunas Campos tried to kill himself or was physically restrained. He did not immediately respond to questions Friday about the 911 call.
The 911 call supports an altered description of the incident that an agency spokesman offered days later that guards stepped in to help when Lunas Campos tried to kill himself. Lunas Campos “violently resisted security personnel and continued to try to take his own life” and stopped breathing during the struggle, the spokesman said.
A witness told The Associated Press last week that Lunas Campos was handcuffed as at least five guards held him down and one put an arm around his neck and squeezed him until he was unconscious.
The El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death of 55-year-old Lunas Campos a homicide caused by asphyxiation due to compression of his neck and torso. Unlike many homicides, it’s unclear if any law enforcement agencies outside of ICE are investigating the death.
The autopsy report said witnesses saw Lunas Campos become insensible while being restrained by guards. Injuries were found consistent with guards holding him down and applying pressure to his neck and back until his body lacked enough oxygen to survive.
The East Montana camp was built last year to house thousands of immigrants in the desert at Fort Bliss, a massive Army base just a few miles from the US border with Mexico.
The 911 caller, Walden, has been a detention officer with federal contractor Akima Global Services since Sept. 1, which was days after the camp opened, according to his Texas private security guard license. Walden, 25, did not respond to messages left at a phone number and email address associated with him. Akima, which also did not return messages seeking comment, provides detention and security services for ICE.
A second Camp East Montana official called police demanding an investigation into the death shortly after Lunas Campos was pronounced dead, but was denied, according to records and phone calls released Friday. That man said he did not witness the death, but was told it was a suicide.
ICE’s initial statement on the death said Lunas Campos became disruptive while in line for medication, refused to return to his dormitory and was placed in solitary confinement. The statement said staff then “observed him in distress” and contacted medical staff to treat him.
ICE took custody of Lunas Campos, who had lived in the US since 1996, last July after an operation in Rochester, New York. An immigration judge ordered his removal in 2005 after he was convicted of having sex with a minor, but his deportation never took place. He later served time on a drug charge and was released from state supervision in New York in 2017.
Walden told the dispatcher that Lunas Campos, who had a history of bipolar disorder and anxiety, had vomited and urinated on himself. He said staff at Camp East Montana were using a portable defibrillator to try to restore his heartbeat.
El Paso Fire Department paramedics found Lunas Campos “pulseless and apneic on the floor of his cell” while staff members performed CPR, according to an incident report obtained by the AP. They provided “advanced life support” before he was pronounced dead.
An hour after Walden’s call, a man who identified himself as the assistant director of Camp East Montana, Daniel Rios, called the county sheriff’s office to request an investigation into the death. The county transferred the appeal to the city. Rios said he was driving to the camp and did not witness the death.
“I think he just hanged himself,” Rios said. But he added that he had no details and: “I don’t want to lie to you.”
Rios called an hour later after no one answered, asking when detectives would arrive. Records show the El Paso Police Department did not get involved.
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Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa.