Family Of Man Who Overdosed And Died In Police Custody Suing BPD

BOSTON — The family of a man who overdosed and died in Boston police custody in 2019 is filing a wrongful death suit, claiming the officers did not give him appropriate medical care in time to save him.

Shayne Stilphen, 28, died after suffering an overdose while he was booked into a jail cell in the District 4 station Near Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, a lawsuit filed on behalf of his family by the ACLU of Massachusetts and the law firm Goodwin Procter LLC reads.

A police report says Stilphen was arrested near 'Mass and Cass' - an area known to populated with people who police say come to the area specifically to openly sell and use drugs - because he matched the description of someone who police say broke into a car.

According to the lawsuit, there is a video that shows Stilphen struggled to keep his head up, and was unable to stand during the booking process, but police did not offer medical assistance and put him alone in a cell where he continued to take drugs before falling forward and not moving.

Part of the lawsuit claims that officers had Narcan on them, which could have been used to save Stilphen but they weren't administered until hours later. The suit also claims that multiple officers walked by him several times but did not check in on him.

Boston Police policy does not require officers to actually look into the cells, the lawsuit claims. The ACL says another man also died of an overdose while in police custody earlier that summer.

After he was found, Stilphen received multiple doses of Narcan, and an officer performed CPR while waiting for an ambulance, but the lawsuit claims Stilphen died either on the way or shortly after arriving at a hospital on July 14, 2019.

The Boston Police Department had no comment on the case, citing pending litigation.

According to the lawsuit, police denied Stilphen his constitutional right to receive medical care and was discriminated against on behalf of his known Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) which is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.