WASHINGTON – The family of a 24-year-old man has filed a multi-million lawsuit against Howard University Hospital for his death.
According to authorities, in March 2005 Wayne Maclurin Jr. was found by police on Minnesota Ave. in Washington and taken to Howard University Hospital by ambulance. Doctors there found traces of PCP in his urine sample.
In the emergency room, Maclurin became increasingly agitated and began gesturing and speaking unintelligibly. Special police officer Carl Peterson and another hospital guard restrained him after he entered another patient’s room.
Maclurin’s family says the young man was confined to a gurney. Left unconscious, medical staff neglected to attend him, and 20 minutes later he was dead. The medical examiner determined the cause of death to be homicide by asphyxiation.