Lawsuit alleges Nevada inmate was held down, killed by corrections officers

Two weeks before he was to be released from prison, Patrick Odale was pepper-sprayed, held down and killed by corrections officers, according to a lawsuit filed this week.

The mother of his children is suing multiple government agencies and officials over his death.

Odale, 39, was pronounced dead at Southern Desert Correctional Center on Dec. 28, 2023, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections.

After a nearly nine-month-long investigation, the Clark County coroner’s office found that he died by “positional and mechanical asphyxia in the setting of law enforcement restraint,” meaning that he had been placed in a position that prevented him from breathing properly. His death was ruled a homicide.

An autopsy report for Odale said “the combined effects of recent and remote substance use” also contributed to his death.

Odale had served less than 1½ years of a one-to-four-year sentence for possession of a stolen credit card and attempt to carry a concealed explosive, gun or weapon.

Represented by James Urrutia of LJU Law, Amy Estrada, who is the mother of Odale’s two children, ages 15 and 12, filed a complaint Monday against the Nevada Department of Corrections and the Clark County coroner’s office, alleging negligence, excessive force and wrongful death.

“Patrick endured terror, humiliation, and conscious physical agony during the prolonged restraint and denial of medical care, as evidenced by his pleas for help, and the coroner’s findings,” the lawsuit states. “Nevada Department of Corrections systematically and deliberately promulgated unconstitutional practices and maintained a pervasive pattern of abuse that directly led to Patrick’s tragic and preventable death.”

Urrutia — who also represents the family of Christian Walker, a High Desert State Prison inmate who was beaten before he was found unresponsive in his cell — called for a jury trial to settle the matter. In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Urrutia said jury verdicts represent the community’s voice.

“The only way to truly hold any company or organization accountable is to hear from the community,” Urrutia said. “We’ve learned that the NDOC and the state do not value human life as much as the community does. And so the only way for them to learn how much the community values human life, even of our offenders, is for a jury to tell them.”

Officials with the Nevada Department of Corrections and Clark County declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Gap in surveillance footage

In the moments leading to his death, Odale, suffering an asthma attack and seeking medical help, had approached correctional officers in the “bubble area” of his unit at Three Lakes Valley Conservation Camp, which neighbors Southern Desert, according to Estrada’s lawsuit.

Immediately, the complaint alleges, Christopher Day, Candace Chambers, Alizabeth Vasquez and other officers not named pepper-sprayed Odale, backing him into a tool closet.

When the officers removed him, they slammed his head into the steel door frame at least three times, Urrutia claims in the suit.

At some point, they also had used “repeated punching, kicking, and batons” on Odale, the complaint states.

Minutes later, Odale became unresponsive before he was pronounced dead.

In the suit, Urrutia argues that the department failed to address “documented concerns about staffing shortages and increasing safety hazards.” As a result, according to the complaint, correctional officers were inadequately trained and supervised, contributing to Odale’s death.

After Odale’s death, the suit alleges, the correctional officers involved; the Department of Corrections director, James Dzurenda; the warden, Ronald Oliver; and the assistant warden, Kimberly McCoy; conspired to destroy and modify Odale’s medical records and video surveillance of the incident to “downplay the extent of (his) injuries and conceal evidence of excessive force.”

As noted in the lawsuit, the coroner’s autopsy report suggests a “gap” in the surveillance footage recovered from the scene.

“The reason why they destroyed this is because if it existed, we would see the same thing that happened to George Floyd,” Urrutia said. “You would see multiple officers on top of him. You would see him telling them he can’t breathe, and then you would watch him go lifeless while multiple guards are on top of him.”

‘We still don’t have answers’

Dzurenda, Oliver, McCoy, as well as the three officers alleged to have been directly involved in Odale’s beating, also are being sued personally. Urrutia said that his firm has requested the video referenced in the autopsy “countless times.” Still, the Clark County coroner’s office, the prison system and the Nevada attorney general’s office have failed to provide it.

The suit states that Odale’s family should be awarded damages to compensate for economic losses, pain and suffering, and the “pre-death pain suffered” by Odale.

“It’s been difficult to, you know, continue to build my kids up, and we still don’t have answers,” Estrada said, discussing the lawsuit over the phone. “It’s like reopening that wound, even after having a service for him. Patrick didn’t deserve to pass away the way he did.”

Estrada said she had known Odale, originally from Santa Barbara, California, since he was 12. She got choked up explaining that, almost two years after his death, their daughter danced with only a picture of him at her quinceañera.

Contact Akiya Dillon at adillon@reviewjournal.com.