Sep 23, 2009 6:13 am US/Mountain
'Outrageous Treatment' Alleged At Denver Detox
Written By Brian Maass
DENVER (CBS4) ―
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Image of surveillance video from Denver CARES.
CBS
Gus Natvig spent nearly 15 hours in a 5 foot by 6 foot concrete cell without running water, a toilet or a chair. Attendants also used his clothes to mop up his urine according to videotape and information gathered during a CBS4 investigation.
Natvig, 23, has now filed a lawsuit against Denver Health and Hospital Authority over his treatment at the city's detox facility.
"Pretty much just a story of complete humiliation in my book," said Natvig, who attends college at Western State College in Gunnison.
"I don't think anyone would ever want to go through that night. It's just ridiculous to treat someone that way," Natvig said.
The ordeal began the evening of Oct. 11,2008. Natvig and a group of friends had traveled to Denver for a beer festival at the Colorado Convention Center. Natvig admits he became "fairly intoxicated" after downing numerous beers during the course of the evening.
According to Natvig, he got into an argument with a vendor at the festival. When Natvig refused to leave, Denver Police were called. They did not charge Natvig with a crime, but called for him to be transported to Denver CARES, the city's 100 bed detox facility where thousands of drunks are sent to dry out every year.
There are conflicting accounts as to how Natvig behaved around the time he was checked into Denver CARES. According to a report filed by the Denver CARES attendants who transported Natvig, he was "cooperative" and "confused." On a Denver CARES admission form, an employee characterized Natvig as "calm-cooperative."
But, other workers viewed Natvig as "verbally loud/abusive/obscene" and physically aggressive so they put him in a quiet room. A quiet room is a 5 foot by 6 foot concrete cell with no toilet, no running water, no bed or chair.
"Basically a concrete closet is the way I describe it," said Natvig.
The facility has other rooms with more comforts like beds and flushing toilets, but the quiet rooms are reserved for clients who are unruly, abusive and deemed a threat to staff members.
After about an hour in the quiet room, Natvig says he needed to relieve himself but attendants told him he was not allowed out of the tiny room and would have to urinate and defecate down a drain in the middle of the floor. Natvig refused to use the drain saying he did not want to stand, sit or sleep in his own urine or excrement for the length of his stay.
"They told me to use the drain and I told them no way," said Natvig.
Natvig then urinated under the door of his cell. Videotape captured by a Denver CARES camera in the hallway then shows a Denver CARES attendant apparently noticing the urine seeping out from under the door.
According to information gathered by Natvig's attorney, a mop cart was nearby. Instead of using the mop, the attendant reached into a bag of Natvig's clothes hanging on the door, removed Natvig's fleece jacket and a sock, dropped them on the floor and used them to sop up the liquid.
A second Denver CARES attendant is seen on the videotape using his foot to push the clothing around on the floor to make sure Natvig's clothes are absorbing the mess.
Natvig says the attendants then put the urine sopped clothes back in the bag, soaking his shoes, hat, watch and wallet.
"Basically it was like marinating my property in piss is what they did."
When Natvig was released the next day, 15 hours after being checked in, he says employees handed him back the sack of urine soaked clothes indicating he should put them on.
"Everything smelled of urine -- the watch, the coat, hat everything was put in the same bag. Everything was piss-soaked," said Natvig.
"I felt humiliated- straight up," said Natvig. He contends he was treated, "like an animal in a cage."
"Who wouldn't let a human being use the restroom?" Natvig asked.
Natvig's attorney, Robert Abrams, believes Denver CARES attendants intentionally wanted to be mean and hurt him.
"Personally it's repulsive," said Abrams, referring to the use of Natvig's clothes to clean up urine. "Second, it's cruel and unusual."
Abrams said he was even more disturbed that Natvig was placed in a concrete quiet room for nearly 15 hours straight.
"He was locked in the closet for 15 hours without a toilet. You don't need to be a constitutional scholar to realize Gus' rights were stepped on. It's like Denver Health got caught with their hand in the cookie jar and this is a victim where we caught it on tape. They have no excuse. They have nothing they can hang their hat on. They violated his rights now they have to answer to him," said Abrams.
Natvig says after a supervisor at the Denver CARES facility reviewed the videotape, the agency waived the $280 fee Natvig was charged for his stay.
Natvig recently filed a lawsuit against Denver Health, and Hospital Shared Services which staffs Denver CARES with employees. He claims extreme and outrageous conduct and negligence.
Dee Martinez, a spokesperson for Denver Health, said she could not comment or answer any questions related to Natvig's experience due to the pending lawsuit.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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