ARAUJO

The Brazilian government yesterday pushed the U.S. government to “investigate deeply” the death of Edmar Alves De Araujo, a 34-year-old Brazilian national who died in Providence last Tuesday while in federal custody.

“Our government is pushing our consulate [in Boston] to follow carefully the investigation, because it is something not so usual — especially when somebody is under the custody of police,” said a spokesman for Celso Amorim, Brazil’s minister of external relations.

“Our minister had directed our consulate in Boston to follow all the investigations carried out” by federal authorities, the spokesman said.

Araujo was pronounced dead at Rhode Island Hospital approximately 78 minutes after Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities took him into custody in Woonsocket and drove him to the Providence ICE headquarters for processing. Woonsocket police learned of an outstanding deportation warrant after arresting Araujo, of Milford, Mass., on a traffic violation.

Emergency medical technicians said Araujo “appeared to be in a seizure” when they responded to the Providence ICE office at 3:47 p.m., Fire Department officials said. He was pronounced dead at 4:18 p.m.

The death sparked a public outcry from family members and community advocates, who said Araujo’s illegal status was immaterial to what they called an inexcusable and tragic death.

His sister, Irene Araujo, alleges that Woonsocket police turned her away when she tried to bring anti-seizure medications for him. Woonsocket police say they notified ICE authorities as soon as Irene Araujo told them her brother had epilepsy. At that point, the police said, Araujo was in ICE custody, on his way to Providence.

An investigation is under way, by the Officer of Inspector General of U.S. Homeland Security; the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility; and the Rhode Island Office of State Medical Examiners, an ICE spokeswoman in Boston said Friday.

Meanwhile, Providence lawyer Randy Olen met yesterday with Araujo’s family to arrange for his body to be returned to Brazil.

Olen last week said the case “represents a tragedy that should have and could have been avoided.” Olen said the family maintains that authorities “were put on notice that Mr. Araujo required life-sustaining medication and the information was not acted upon, and that the failure to do so many have led to his death.”

In other developments, the Washington Post reported yesterday that Araujo was one of three detainees who died within weeks of each other while in ICE custody. According to the Post, the other two people were a pregnant Mexican woman who lost consciousness at an ICE facility in El Paso, Texas, and a Mexican AIDS patient “whose condition steadily deteriorated” while in custody in San Pedro, Calif..

Recent published reports state that 62 immigrants have died in ICE administrative custody since 2004.

ICE spokesman Marc Raimondi told the Washington Post that his agency cannot be held responsible for the deaths of Rosa Isela Contreras-Dominguez and Araujo, but declined comment on the case of AIDS patient Victoria Arellano.

Yesterday, Thomas Gibson, the state’s medical examiner, said determining cause and manner of death in this case will require extra testing. The tests are not unique, he said, but take time.

“We’re moving as quickly as we can,” said Gibson. While he initially predicted the results could take up to three months, “if we get any information back sooner, we will issue a final death certificate” at that time.

While it is unclear whether the apparent seizure contributed to Araujo’s death, The Journal yesterday asked questions of Dr. Andrew Blum, director of the epilepsy program at Rhode Island Hospital and assistant professor in clinical neurosciences at the Brown University medical school.

“Can seizures be fatal? They can, although fortunately, it’s uncommon,” said Blum. He said the most common seizure-related deaths occur as a result of fatal injury or accident, such as someone who drowns after having a seizure while swimming, or dies in a car crash after having a seizure.

An uncommon and “somewhat mysterious event” is called “sudden unexplained death in epilepsy,” said Blum.

“The presumption is that these folks with epilepsy who succumb to sudden unexplained death have had a seizure in their sleep that led to some sort of event like heart disturbance or interruption in their breathing. That’s a hypothesis. No one knows for sure.”

A prolonged seizure or cluster of seizures that occur in succession for 15 minutes or more — a condition known as “status epilepticus” — can also lead to death, he said. While status epilepticus is seen “every day or every week at a busy hospital,” convulsive seizures that go on to epilepticus carry higher risk of injury or mortality — again the presumption is this can effect vital functions, breathing, heart rate and potentially injure the brain itself.

Psychological or physical stress can trigger seizures, as can alcohol deprivation, alcohol, fever or hormonal variations, said Blum.

Among several questions posed to ICE authorities by The Journal last week, one was about protocol for transporting ICE detainees from one district to another, including how many agents are required when one person is being moved.

Woonsocket Police Chief Michael L.A. Houle said yesterday that only one agent came to transport Araujo to Providence.

ICE spokeswoman Paula Grenier directed a reporter to the Homeland Security Web site.

The protocol for land transportation of detainees does not state directly how many ICE agents must be involved when transporting a single detainee, however it does refer more than once to “a driver and assistant driver.”

The protocol states that “the escorting officer/assistant driver will instruct the detainees about rules of conduct during the trip,” and “the main driver is responsible for managing the detainees’ move from the staging area into the vehicle.” The assistant driver is also responsible “for detainee oversight during transport.”

kziner@projo.com