BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) — Attorneys representing the family of Quantez Burks, who died while incarcerated for a pre-trial offense at Southern Regional Jail in March of 2022, allege that the company contracted to provide medical care to inmates failed to help Burks.
Later, while guards were allegedly beating him, one of the nurses is now accused of suggesting Burks’ body be injected with insulin, to make the death appear natural.
In documents obtained by 59News, Beckley attorney Stephen New, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump and attorneys Matt Harman and Eric Frederickson of Harman Law Firm in Atlanta, Ga., allege PrimeCare Medical staff ignored protocols for inmates to get immediate outside care.
Furthermore, the attorneys claim that medical staff allowed Southern Regional Jail staff to use private, unmonitored medical rooms to abuse inmates without fear of being recorded, and that PrimeCare medical staff falsified medical records to cover up inmates’ injuries at the hand of Southern Regional Jail staff.
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The allegations regarding PrimeCare Medical Inc., the parent company of the now-bankrupt PrimeCare Medical of West Virginia, were shared exclusively with 59News on Wednesday, February 21, 2024.
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PrimeCare Medical staff provided care to Southern Regional Jail inmates, including Burks.
Burks, 37, was arrested on charges of wanton endangerment and obstructing an officer on Feb. 28, 2022, after telling officers with Beckley Police Department that he had fired a gun at his tenant’s cat.
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Beckley attorney Stephen New, civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump and attorneys Matt Harman and Eric Frederickson of Harman Law Firm in Atlanta, Ga., allege PrimeCare medical staff noted when Burks was admitted that he had a pre-existing condition of hypertension, or high blood pressure.
At 5 a.m. on March 1, attorneys told 59News, Burks was taken to the medical department while complaining of chest pain and a Prime Care nurse recorded his blood pressure reading at 160/110 mmHg and administered Clonodine, a blood pressure medicine.
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Nurse Tara Davis checked Burks’ blood pressure at 7:30 a.m., attorneys alleged, and recorded it at 220/80 mmHg, a medical emergency, but failed to call 911 or make an effort to provide emergency care for Burks.
Attorneys allege in the documents that none of the nurses notified jail guards of Burks’ medical emergency.
Around 9:55 a.m., Burks was reportedly holding a mop jail staff had provided to inmates, when he pressed the intercom and told guards he needed help.
Instead of providing medical help, the guards allegedly became agitated, according to documents, and ordered him to “Just sit down.”
Attorneys alleged on Wednesday that Burks attempted to exit his pod, C-Pod, in an effort to get medical help, and multiple guards then beat and seriously injured him. Then, at 10:03 a.m., they allegedly handcuffed Burks and lifted him from the floor.
The documents alleged that Burks, who had a life-threatening medical emergency, was then bleeding profusely as officers forced him down the hallway and into “Interview Room E,” which did not have surveillance cameras.
The documents allege PrimeCare nurse Kayla Maynard, responded to guards’ call for a nurse inside the room.
The attorneys allege guards pepper sprayed and “brutally” beat Burks while Nurse Maynard was present and that she did not intervene or try to provide appropriate medical care for Burks.
Guards allegedly moved Burks, who was bleeding and still having a medical emergency with his blood pressure, into the “A Pod,” where, attorneys allege, Burks was unable to stand.
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The documents allege that, instead of immediately providing medical care to Burks, Nurse Maynard suggested to the officers that “she could administer an overdose of insulin to Quantez to cover up his cause of death.”
Burks’ family attorneys allege Burks died in the A Pod.
The West Virginia Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled Burks died of natural causes related to heart disease, based on data provided to 59News by WVDCR officials under a Freedom of Information Act request.
On March 1, 2022, West Virginia Department of Homeland Security officials provided a press release to local media outlets, which stated Burks was “combative around 10 a.m.” and that he “assaulted multiple staff while attempting to force his way out of the section.”
“He was then taken to an administrative section of the facility, where he collapsed upon being taken to a cell,” the March 1, 2022, press release stated. “Staff immediately provided emergency medical assistance but were unable to revive him.”
The attorneys alleged on Wednesday that Nurse Maynard falsely told investigators that Burks was combative and resisting in the interview room, and she told investigators she had not seen anyone strike Burks in the interview room.
Eight of the guards –Mark Holdren, 39, Cory Snyder, 29, Jonathan Walters, 35, Jacob Boothe, 25, Ashley Toney, 23, Steven Nicholas Wimmer, 24, and Andrew Fleshman, 21, were charged in U.S. District Court in relation to Burks’ death.
Some were charged with providing false statements to investigating officers.
Fleshman and Wimmer have pleaded guilty.
A former lieutenant, Chad Lester, 33, is also charged in federal court in relation to Burks’ death.
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