The New Hampshire Department of Corrections, along with six employees, are being sued in connection to the death of a Cornish man three years ago at the NH State Prison for Men in Concord.
According to a Patch report, the estate of Phillip Borcuk, who was 34-years-old at the time of death, is alleging that he died after the corrections staff in the Residential Treatment Unit tased him several times, then hit and pushed him to the floor of his cell, before restraining him with his hand tied behind his back. The lawsuit filed by attorney Larry Vogelman states, “It has long been established that persons placed on their stomach, rear cuffed and restrained may die from positional asphyxiation.”
At this time, the state has not publicly released Borcuk’s cause of death. However, on December 6th, 2017, the Department of Corrections issued a release stating that officers discovered him engaging in self-harm.
An investigative report from the NH State Police says that Borcuk was found vomiting blood into his cell’s toilet and banging his head onto the corner of the sink. Two officers then instructed him to “get down” while he was bleeding from his head. According to Vogelman, “The defendants claimed that Phillip faced the officers with his hands up in a ‘fighting stance’.”He writes that an officer then tased Borcuk and struck him numerous times. Borcuk was cuffed from the rear and placed on a stretcher lying on his stomach. Vogelman states that Borcuk ceased breathing on the way to the medical unit, and died on the floor as CPR was attempted. The lawyer states, “All individual defendants knew or should have known of the risk to Phillip of placing him on his stomach, rear cuffed and restrained to a stretcher.”
The lawsuit will be seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
WNTK Local News 