Autopsy: Perez blood-alcohol level 0.29 percent

[ONEEYEDMIC 68]

Autopsy: Perez blood-alcohol level 0.29 percent

By JORGE FITZ-GIBBON AND JONATHAN BANDLER

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: September 18, 2007)

MOUNT KISCO - A homeless Guatemalan immigrant had a blood-alcohol level nearly four times the legal driving limit when he was found dying on a Bedford road, an autopsy report said.

The 28-page report, reviewed by The Journal News yesterday, also suggests that Rene Javier Perez briefly regained consciousness while being treated at Westchester Medical Center after being found April 28.

The 42-year-old vagrant appeared intoxicated, "confused" and "combative," the report said.

The documents also said Perez went into cardiac arrest five minutes after doctors placed tubes in his body to help him breathe.

He was resuscitated but went into cardiac arrest again shortly thereafter and died early the morning of April 29, according to the Westchester County Medical Examiner's reports.

Perez's death is listed as a homicide, with the official cause as internal bleeding and abdominal injuries - cuts to the mesentery and mesenteric vessels.

His death led to an indictment charging Mount Kisco Police Officer George Bubaris with second-degree manslaughter, unlawful imprisonment and official misconduct. Bubaris was suspended without pay and is free on $100,000 bail.

Perez was found on Byram Lake Road late April 28, less than one hour after he made a drunken 911 call to Mount Kisco police from a village coin-operated laundry.

Bubaris and two other officers who responded to the call - Lt. Edward Dunnigan and Officer Edward Dwyer - were named as part of the investigation by Bedford police and the Westchester District Attorney's Office. Dunnigan and Dwyer were not named in the indictment but remain on modified duty pending an interview review by the Mount Kisco Police Department.

Perez was a known alcoholic who had been living the life of a vagrant and sleeping in woods behind a Mount Kisco supermarket.

According to the autopsy report, he had a 0.29 percent blood-alcohol level. The state's legal limit for driving while intoxicated is 0.08 percent.

"At that blood level, he must have been falling on his face constantly. He must have had some alcohol with him on the road. He must have been drinking right up till the end," said Edward Hayes, Bubaris' lawyer.

Hayes still refuses to say whether Perez was in Bubaris' vehicle the night of his death, but he said after reviewing the blood-alcohol level that "I can't believe there's a cop in the world stupid enough to take a comatose vagrant up and dump him by the side of the road."

A death report said medical staff at the Valhalla hospital smelled alcohol on Perez's breath. The report describes Perez as "well-developed, well-nourished" at the time of this death.

He was missing several teeth and had a bruise to his nose, a scraped left knee and a bruise on his inner left arm that may have been a result of his treatment at the hospital, the report said.

The autopsy also reports that there were external bruises to the abdomen, accompanied with bulging. In one gory detail, the coroner said 3 liters of blood gushed out during the exam.

Jonathan Lovett, a lawyer who filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Perez's brother against the village, town and Bubaris, said the description of the bruises and the extensive internal injuries makes him wonder why Bubaris was not charged with any assaultive behavior. He suggested that the District Attorney's Office was not prosecuting the case aggressively.

"You don't fall down, pick yourself up and fall down on the same shaped objects. He was hit with something," he said. "They've positioned themselves to have a very uphill prosecution."

Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for District Attorney Janet DiFiore, declined to comment.

I am sure that the COPS force fed him to drink also. Can they please just drop this case. What a crock.

[Oswegowind 17]

That was probably his baseline...and they say you can never kill a good drunk!

Sad how much someone who was a nuisance and burdened society is getting so much time! And the right to burden society even more. Since we are paying for both sides of the case.........

[DOC22 1]

He made a 911 call from a laundramat? What was the nature of that call? Is not possible that he was assaulted ay another of these fine, upstanding ILEGAL aliens??

NUFF SAID.

[RescueKujo 130]

C'mon Doc...ya gotta use the poliically correct term... International Nomadic Travelers

Edited September 18, 2007 by RescueKujo

[DOC22 1]

C'mon Doc...ya gotta use the poliically correct term... International Nomadic Travelers

HAHA Good one!!!! Forgive me I should have known to be PC. LOL