Inmate dies as guards ignore his pleas for help

A VIDEO has been released showing guards in the US standing by as an inmate vomits blood and eventually dies in agony.

A SHOCKING video has emerged of an inmate dying on the floor of a jail in New Mexico while guards appear to ignore his pleas for help.

Douglas Edmisten, who was in Cibola County jail awaiting trial for a drink driving charge, allegedly first complained of pain around 10.15pm on July 7 last year, soon after this he started vomiting blood and begging for medical attention.

The video shows the man writhing in pain in the shared cell. Image: KOB

But instead of taking the 50-year-old to the hospital, guards returned him to his shared room and left him to die on the floor in agony, according to the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Edmisten’s family against the prison.

The family’s lawyer, Glenn Valdez, told US broadcast station KOB that he felt “sick to [his] stomach” after watching the video for the first time.

“I’m watching somebody die right in front of my eyes,” he said.

Other inmates rushed to catch Edmisten as he fell from his bunk. Image: KOB

Surveillance footage from inside the prison shows other inmates trying to comfort Edmisten, reading him bible passages and forming a prayer circle around him, for hours before he eventually died the next day at 5.25am.

His fellow inmates were reportedly trying to get the guards attention when Edmisten first became ill, wiping blood on the window in an attempt to get a response.

Edmisten was sent back to his cell 20 minutes after his initial assessment by the jail’s medic. Image: KOB.

According to the lawsuit, Edmisten was permitted by guards to see the prison medic at 11pm but was sent back to his cell almost immediately after being assessed, despite being clearly violently ill.

Edmisten’s condition got increasingly worse as he started defecating blood and going in and out of consciousness.

More pleas for help were ignored until 3.35am when he was again taken down to the medic, this time in a wheelchair, reports stated.

“We know the inmates and everyone else were trying to get help, but nothing happened,” Valdez told KOB.

“He couldn’t call himself or do anything that we take for granted. So without the guards to call, he’s dead.”

He was so violently ill that he was unable to walk and had to be wheeled down to medical the second time he was allowed to go. Image: KOB

The inmate, clearly in severe medical distress, was again sent back to his cell a mere 15 minutes after being reassessed, where he suffered in agony until his death almost two hours later.

Edminsten’s death was caused by a blood vessel hat had ruptured in his stomach, causing his abdomen to fill with blood, an autopsy revealed.

It was reported that if he had been given proper medical attention when he first complained of pain, then he would have had an 80 per cent chance of surviving.

Fellow inmates joined hands in a prayer circle in an attempt to comfort Edminsten in his final hours. Image: KOB

Valdez suggested that the decision to deny Edminsten additional medical help could have been financially motivated.

“I think it was a financial decision that they didn’t want to pay to take him to a hospital,” he said.

He died seven hours after first complaining of pain. Image: KOB

Due to the current lawsuit, officials of the Cibola County jail were unable to comment on the events of July 7 2016 when KOB contacted them, but did say that policies were being reviewed and an external investigation into the death was underway.