Hyde bleeding from mouth before he died, inquiry told

An inquiry into Howard Hyde's death looked at video Friday of corrections officers hunched over Hyde's seemingly lifeless body moments after they'd forced the mentally ill man to the ground.

The chilling scene was played out on a grainy video taken on Nov. 22, 2007, at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth, where Hyde was being held on a charge of assault against his common-law spouse.

Only Hyde's legs, motionless and clad in dark prison pants, can be seen in the foreground of the scratchy video as officers try to restrain him. Hyde, 45, had paranoid schizophrenia, and guards at the jail described him as delusional and nonsensical.

Cameron Lamond, an officer who had led Hyde to a cramped, windowless cell earlier in the night, testified he overheard one of his colleagues say blood was coming from the man's mouth while he lay on the floor after struggling with the guards.

Lamond said health-care services and 911 were called shortly after. On the video, several minutes seem to elapse from the time Hyde becomes still and a health worker arrives in the cell. Other guards stand by, wiping their brows.

Hyde was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

He had been off his medications for schizophrenia for more than a week.

Minutes before his struggle with the guards, the silent video shows an officer trying to get Hyde to walk down a long corridor to get ready for a court appearance.

When Hyde doesn't budge, a second officer appears. Within seconds, they bring down Hyde and cuff his hands behind his back. Twice he cries out that he is an innocent man.

The inquiry has heard evidence that Hyde continued to struggle and that he was again forced to the floor of the cell, where he blacked out and never regained consciousness. A coroner later listed the cause of death as excited delirium stemming from paranoid schizophrenia.

Nov. 22, 2007

Hyde had been up through the night, endlessly pacing his cell, the inquiry has heard. He'd been brought to the centre from court and the Halifax police station, where he had been hit with a stun gun during a struggle there about 30 hours earlier.

Another guard testified that before the first scuffle with guards, Hyde shouted that he didn't want to enter the hallway because there were "demons" there.

Lamond, referring to a statement he gave police days after the incident, said Hyde was "nonsensical" when about nine guards led him backwards to the cell.

"He was making inappropriate statements," Lamond said.

Lamond then read from his police statement, saying Hyde cried, "'I'm an innocent man, I'm an innocent man' and 'You can't do this to me."'

Despite the recognition among some correctional workers that Hyde could be suffering a mental health crisis, he did not receive any psychiatric treatment at the facility.

A shift-change notice passed on the message that "Howard Hyde seems out of his marbles," the inquiry heard. "He keeps talking and shouting to himself and pacing in the cell. Need to be checked on."

Corrections officer Algeron Smith began work after that notation was made but testified he did not read it. He said pacing was not unusual and suggested Hyde's behaviour didn't indicate a need for special care.

Family's lawyer disagrees

Kevin MacDonald, a lawyer representing Hyde's family, disagreed.

"These are all indicators there was a problem and it is our view that he should have been seen and I fail to understand why that did not happen," MacDonald said.

"He was exhibiting signs right up when he was put into that holding room, where we say he ultimately died."

Lamond also said during the first hallway scuffle, he put his body weight on Hyde's legs to control him.

MacDonald said Hyde appeared to be on his stomach in the cell and alleges this could have caused breathing difficulties.

"There was weight to his back and his legs and shoulders and we believe his breathing would have been restricted," he said outside the court.