Police deny notice of man's epilepsy

WOONSOCKET, R.I. -- In the final hours of his life, Edimar Alves Araujo sat on a black vinyl seat in the Woonsocket Police Department, his left wrist handcuffed to a metal bar, police said yesterday. Dressed in shorts and a button-down shirt, he chatted amiably with a lieutenant in halting English about his native Brazil, his family back home, and even a roofing accident that scarred his arm and leg, according to the police account.

He did not, police said, complain about his health or ask for medicine from the time they stopped his car around noon Tuesday until federal authorities picked him up at 2:59 p.m. and took him to Providence for eventual deportation.

But by 4:18 p.m., Araujo, of Milford, Mass., was pronounced dead at Rhode Island Hospital. His family has accused authorities of failing to heed their warning that he had epilepsy and urgently required medicine.

The cause of death is under investigation by the state medical examiner, federal immigration authorities, and Woonsocket police.

The demise of a 34-year-old illegal immigrant in federal custody touched off a firestorm across two states yesterday, as conflicting accounts emerged about Araujo's medical condition and what authorities knew about it.

Araujo's sister, Irene, has said that when she learned of her brother's arrest, she immediately brought his epilepsy medication to the station, but that officers refused to accept it and turned her away.

Officers said that if her brother had a medical condition, he could inform them himself, she alleged.

Police provided a different account in a series of interviews yesterday. They said they did not learn of Edimar Araujo's medical condition until after agents from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement had taken him away.

Woonsocket Police Chief Michael L.A. Houle said officers first heard that Araujo might have a medical condition when a family friend told them he might be diabetic. Then around 3:30 p.m., they said, Irene Araujo came to the station and told the officer in charge of prisoners that her brother needed medication for epilepsy. The officer informed her that her brother was already in federal custody and that she should contact the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, police said.

Police said the 3:30 visit was Irene Araujo's second appearance at the station. On her first visit, police said, she did not inform them of his medical condition.

Family members said yesterday that Edimar Araujo was not diabetic and that they are not sure what caused the confusion with authorities.

Police said that if they had known that Araujo needed urgent medical care, they would have acted quickly.

"If he had said to us he needed a doctor, we would get him one," Houle said. "We do it all the time."

Paula Grenier, a spokeswoman for the immigration agency, confirmed yesterday that Woonsocket police had told federal agents that Araujo was diabetic. She said federal officials are investigating what happened next.

She also said Araujo did not complain of health problems during the ride from Woonsocket to a Providence processing center, where he showed signs of distress.

"This all unfolded in a very short period of time," she said. "We began processing him. The situation deteriorated. He showed signs of physical distress."

In Milford, where Araujo lived, a representative of his family demanded an investigation into the death and spoke of the toll it has taken.

"The family is really devastated, frustrated. . . . It was a preventable death," Vera Dias-Freitas, a community activist from Framingham, said at an afternoon press conference at the Assembly of God Church, which Araujo attended. "The sister tried very hard to convey to police that her brother had a medical condition. But the police did not listen to her. The person who denied him the medicine literally denied him the right to live."

Irene Araujo did not identify the officers she spoke to at the station and through a family spokesman refused to answer further questions from a reporter.

Lieutenant Kenneth Paulhus, a 16-year veteran of the Woonsocket police, stopped Araujo in his Plymouth Breeze around noon on Tuesday for going the wrong way on Social Street.

Paulhus arrested Araujo when he could not provide a driver's license. Araujo gave the officer a false name, but a fingerprint check at the station revealed his identity and indicated he had been wanted for deportation since 2002.

Paulhus alerted federal immigration agents, who said they would pick up Araujo. Paulhus, who was in charge of Araujo during his detention at the Woonsocket station, said Araujo did not complain about a medical condition while he waited. He said he did not ask Araujo about his health.

"There was absolutely no signs that would alert me in any way shape or form that he was having a problem or in need of medical attention," Paulhus said.

Until federal agents arrived, Araujo and Paulhus chatted about Brazil and how hard it was to make a living there, Paulhus said. He let Araujo make several cellphone calls.

"He was a perfect gentleman," said Paulhus, who said he was shaken by the death.

Paulhus said he watched a federal agent place Araujo in arm and leg chains and load him into a van bound for the aency's offices in Providence.

Then, Paulhus said, he spoke to Gary Fernandes, a family friend of Araujo's who was waiting alone in the lobby. Fernandes told Paulhus that Araujo needed insulin. Paulhus said he alerted immigration officials by telephone shortly after 3 p.m. Fernandes could not be reached for comment.

Paulhus said Araujo had seemed to be resigned that he would be deported as he waited for federal officials. "He had a smile on his face," he said. "He said, 'I guess I'm going back.' "

In Milford, residents who knew Araujo mourned him and remembered him as a hard worker who always smiled. He worked as a painter and formerly worked at the Shell gas station in town.

"He was always cleaning or helping customers," said Michel Aramouny, a Lebanese immigrant who works as a mechanic at the station.

Araujo would visit Brazilian businesses along Main Street, regularly getting his hair cut at Diva's Hairstyle or buying pastries at the Padaria Brasil bakery.

"I never saw him sad. He would come in here with a big smile and he would talk about his family," said hairdresser Aila Dos Santos.

Irene Araujo, of Woonsocket, said her brother was a fitness buff.

"He didn't drink or smoke and he didn't go out a lot. For him, he loved working to provide for his family. He would visit me and we'd watch movies."

In Milford, Police Chief Tom O'Loughlin said yesterday that Irene Araujo visited the Milford Police Department at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to report a breaking and entering at her brother's apartment. She told police that someone had stolen $20,000 from the apartment, O'Loughlin said.

A police officer fluent in Portuguese went to the apartment with Araujo to investigate, O'Loughlin said, and she told the officer that her brother was being held by federal officials, but never mentioned that he needed medication.

Asked about the exchange at Irene Araujo's home last night, her husband said that she did inform Milford police of her brother's medical condition.

Shuya Ohno, a representative from the Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition, spoke at a press conference at the church, calling Araujo's death "preventable, inexcusable, and needless." He said it marked the 63d death in the last three years of a detainee in the immigration agency's custody.