FARIAS

EAST PROVIDENCE — The police chief yesterday defended his officers’ actions in subduing a 40-year-old man with schizophrenia who died Wednesday after he was pinned to the pavement near his home.

Chief Hubert J. Paquette said in a statement that his officers “exercised great restraint during this potentially deadly encounter.”

“Rather than use deadly force, the officers risked great personal injury in an attempt to restrain [Leonel] Farias,” he said. “Unfortunately, Mr. Farias fell unconscious and sometime later expired following a violent struggle in which officers sustained injuries.”

Farias’ 74-year-old father called the police after Farias, a diagnosed schizophrenic, had a violent outburst at home Wednesday. Farias, who stood 6 feet tall and weighed 300 pounds, was outside the house at 153 James St. waving a steak knife when the police arrived some time after 5:30 p.m.

As Farias tried to go back inside the house where he lived with his parents, officers used a chemical spray and struck him in an effort to take him into custody. The officers were able to handcuff him, but Farias continued to struggle, according to the police. Farias lost consciousness and was taken by ambulance to Rhode Island Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The family alleges the police used excessive force that directly resulted in their brother’s death. Paquette said they have retained a lawyer.

“They just kept beating him and beating and beating him even when he was bloody and on the ground already,” Farias’ older sister, Gabriela Farias, said yesterday. “We told him to stop and repeated he had a mental illness, but they just kept beating the crap out of him.”

The Police Department did not report the death to the attorney general’s office or state police until Thursday morning, failing to follow protocol when anyone dies in police custody. Paquette said yesterday morning that it was a mistake for his department not to notify the attorney general’s office until 15 hours after the death. He also said a department memo has been sent to prevent such late notification from happening again.

In a news conference later in the day, Paquette elaborated, saying his department “mistakenly interpreted” the protocol.

“We did not consider the level of force used by the officers as deadly force but as an in-custody death,” he said. “In believing that we did not use deadly force, we did not contact the attorney general until early the next morning.”

“The levels of force used in this incident were verbal commands, [chemical] spray and strikes to the body, which are commonly used by police departments,” he said. “Today, I have taken steps to prevent a similar situation by issuing a general order regarding whenever any level of force is used and the person expires or sustains injuries which could cause the death of an individual to contact the attorney general immediately.”

Farias’ death was the fifth involving deadly force by police officers in Rhode Island in the last year. Earlier this month, Pawtucket police killed a 30-year-old man whose family said he suffered from mental illness. In addition, Pawtucket police shot suspects in two separate incidents last July, and Central Falls police shot a suspect last April.

Isaura Tavares, a next door neighbor to the Farias family, said her heart goes out to those grieving. She said Farias may have had “his moments,” but he was a “nice person who didn’t deserve the way he died.”

Gabriela Farias said, “He may have had a mental illness, but that didn’t make him a bad person.”

She and another sister, Genoveva Porto, described Farias as a “gentle giant,” a family man who was “nicer than most of us in this house.”

In a poem written by Gabriela for the upcoming funeral, she said, “  ‘When is the next party or wedding?’ he would say. To him, the family, the food, the laughter, the child in him wanted to play. His sense of humor, his smile, his laughter most certainly brought to us such amusement. His kind heart, so giving and tender, his expressions so bright and brilliant.”

It continued, “His death was not in vain, we will bring justice to his name.”

The director of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union yesterday called Farias’ death “troubling” and called on the state to overhaul the way it trains officers in dealing with the mentally ill.

Steven Brown said the case raises serious questions about the police response for a number of reasons.

“The delay in reporting it to the attorney general’s office is a concern to us,” he said. “The allegations made by the family are also a concern. And the context is a concern. This is the second death of a person with a mental illness involving the police in just a few weeks. It raises questions about the training of police officers in Rhode Island in dealing with people with mental illnesses.”

On Feb. 12, a Pawtucket police officer shot and killed Jason M. Swift in the apartment he shared with his mother after she had called the police asking for help getting him to Butler Hospital, a private psychiatry facility in Providence. According to Betty Swift, her son had suffered a nonviolent “nervous breakdown” a few months earlier.

On the morning of the shooting, Jason Swift had started talking to himself, prompting his mother’s 911 call. When police arrived, Swift, who, like Farias, was a large man at 6 feet 4 inches and 300 pounds, was waving a Samurai-style sword in the yard outside of the apartment house where he lived.

After Swift’s death, the ACLU obtained from the Pawtucket Police Department copies of policies and protocols on use of force and interactions with people who are mentally ill and materials on new programs or training since two fatal shootings in that city last July. Brown said he has yet to look over the information in detail but said it appeared that department had a policy to deal with the mentally ill.

Brown said he would file a request for similar information from the East Providence Police Department.

He said the two incidents seem to demonstrate that Rhode Island has come up short in training police officers to deal with the mentally ill.

“There are comprehensive training programs out there for police in dealing with the mentally ill,” he said. “One of the key things is de-escalation. Instead of raising up the ante, police need to de-escalate the situation. At least in these two incidents that approach was missing.

“The training is far from sufficient,” he said, “and there’s no question that there should be more training for all police officers.”

State mental-health advocate H. Reed Cosper described schizophrenia as a thought disorder that can be characterized by psychosis. He echoed Brown’s sentiments regarding police training, saying that the recent deaths are symptomatic of a larger problem in the mental-health system.

“This is less a problem of the police,” he said. “It’s a problem of mental-health leadership. Police get no help from the mental-health system and no training.”

However, Anthony Silva, the director of the Rhode Island Municipal Police Training Academy, disagreed with Brown and Cosper, saying the state is doing more than that what is necessary to train officers.

As part of the 680-hour course at the academy, all recruits must take a four-hour workshop called “Dealing with Mental Illness.” Additionally, recruits spend another 10 to 12 hours in other courses learning about how to respond to people who are depressed or suffering mental illness, Silva said.

“For example, in our class on use of force, we talk about the mentally ill,” he said. “In patrol-operations class, there’s a segment on the mentally ill. It’s incorporated throughout their training.”

The police academy regularly holds refresher courses that are open to all officers in Rhode Island but has not scheduled any special sessions since the shooting in Pawtucket. The last class on dealing with the mentally ill was held at the Warwick police station Dec. 13. Forty-five officers from departments across the state attended the day-long workshop. Silva could not say if any officers from East Providence were there.

The police academy will offer refreshers in May, June and August.

“I think we go above and beyond in training officers to deal with the mentally ill,” Silva said.

That training calls for trying to de-escalate situations involving people who are mentally ill. But, cautioned Silva, real-life situations can be very different from training exercises.

“That’s the training,” he said. “That’s the protocol. But it’s not always reality.”

IN EAST PROVIDENCE, Paquette said the first three officers who responded Wednesday immediately faced a man who told them they “would have to shoot him or be killed.” “A violent struggle ensued,” and even after he was handcuffed and lying on the ground, Farias continued kicking at the officers until he fell unconscious, Paquette said.

The chief said the “situation became even more dangerous as family members placed themselves in harm’s way in attempts to defuse the situation.”

One of the initial responders, who Paquette did not name, is on leave because of her injuries. The other two first responders were back working yesterday despite their injuries. Paquette said he did not know how many from his department received injuries. He said he would be able to release more details after the investigations conclude.

“I want to make it clear that my officers acted with great restraint, and I support them wholeheartedly,” the chief also said. “These officers did not use excessive force in dealing with Mr. Farias.”

Yet Farias’ sisters said between six and eight officers hit and kicked Farias after he was on the ground and had lost consciousness. They said he was bleeding profusely from the injuries he sustained during the struggle.

Raymond Gulliveler, of Williams Avenue, who was walking home after work, said he saw three officers pinning Farias on the ground while other officers were directing traffic. He said Farias didn’t appear to be “struggling much or moving.”

The state medical examiner’s office has not yet determined a cause of death for Farias. In a statement yesterday, the medical examiner’s office said the cause of death not yet determined, “pending further studies.”

Andrea Bagnall Degos, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health, which oversees the medical examiner’s office, said toxicology tests must be carried out before a determination is made. Those tests could take up to three months to complete.

“It could be done sooner, but it could take up to that long,” she said.

According to spokesman Michael Healey, the attorney general’s office has yet to start an investigation with the state police of the fatal incident in East Providence.

“We don’t have any statements or investigating materials from East Providence yet,” Healey said. “But in fairness, it would be a very quick turnaround for them to get such materials to us. There will be an investigation by the attorney general and the state police once East Providence refers its case to us. Both of our offices will be involved in going through it and trying to determine the best course of action.”

“It requires and deserves more investigation,” he said.

apina@projo.com