MILWAUKIE, Ore. — The Milwaukie Police officers who transported a man who died in their custody from Providence Milwaukie Hospital to Unity Center for Behavioral Health in December will not face any criminal charges. Jean Michael DesCamps was 26.
The Multnomah County District's Office in a memo said they found no evidence that the officers committed a crime, calling DesCamp's death a "medical event only." The county medical examiner's preliminary findings stated that DesCamps died from an overdose with contributing natural causes.
In the memo, the prosecutor detailed how DesCamps was first brought to the hospital by ambulance earlier that evening after Clackamas County deputies responded to a MAX Station. DesCamps told them he'd used drugs and was in pain.
At the hospital, records show, over several hours, DesCamps was bathed, fed, prescribed antibiotics and given Narcan for the possibility of a "mild opioid intoxication."
When staff went to discharge DesCamps, they said he went from "perfectly pleasant" to "voluntarily reluctant to leave," and when officers observed him, he appeared to be groaning in bed and non-responsive.
"He was evaluated medically. There's no medical problems for him," an ER staffer told one of the officers in the bodycam video. "This is a chronic problem; he's not thriving chronically, but there's no medical reason for him to be here anymore."
Body camera video shows the officers pushing back, with one of them saying, "He can't be on his own. Why is he being released?"
"He's doing it electively," the staffer responded.
The staff were insistent, the memo indicated, saying that ER personnel told officers DesCamps was "malingering" and "playing possum."
"We had him set up with a shelter, and he didn't want to leave. He wanted to sit here all night, and so, that's how that went for him," a staffer said, also in the bodycam video.
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The Multnomah County deputy district attorney wrote that the bodycam video "supports the conclusion that DesCamps was only placed on a police hold and transported to Unity when it became clear that hospital would not treat him any further."
In a statement, Providence said it is "working to do better ... in providing safe, reliable and compassionate care."
"As the internal and external reviews continue at Providence Milwaukie, we recognize we have a lot of work to do in building better relationships with our first responders, especially the officers in the Milwaukie Police Department. Police and emergency personnel have difficult, high-pressure jobs — and we commit to doing more to ease their way," Providence continued.
Providence Milwaukie's internal investigation is ongoing, along with investigations by the Oregon Health Authority and Disability Rights Oregon.
In response, the Milwaukie Police Department, in an email to KGW, thanked the Portland Police Bureau (PBB) "for a thorough investigation into the elements of the incident including the roles our Officers had. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office review of the case reiterate the specifics of the death investigation as a medical event.
"The incident continues to be replayed and discussed by our Officers and will be considered for some time, emotional and troubling. Our thoughts and hearts continue to go out to the Descamps family and friends," concluded Mark Irman, a Milwaukie Police Department public information officer.