DOUGLAS COUNTY OFFICE
INVESTIGATION DIVISION
INTERVIEW
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7 LOCATION: IN
DETECTIVE ANGELA ZANU. . .
ATTORNEY GLN ERAL TIGATOR TH ERESA BRADBI YRV

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

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Following is the transcript an interview with the following individuals present:

5: DETECTIVE ANGELA SPEZZANO
B: THERESA DMDBURY
M: DIAYA MORFUH

BEGINNING OF RECORDED INTERVIEW

B: I'm Theresa Bradbury (his is, um. Angola Spa/am. she's LI detective with
Douglas County and the facility's in ('tvunly which is why she's here, So
we're helping her with lh- i lhal's my card, just kind of Iclls you who I am
and what I'm going In do is ust kind of tell you why I'm and kind of
how I got im'ulved and that sort of thing. So I gut 2L the, uh  D-A's Office in'
in thmjurisdiction asked ifwc help 'c use my, myjunsdiction IS ale
wide at all facilit' that prm'idc lung Icnn care  and anybody that receives any
kind nrual funds Se we have, We havcjurisdiction, so anyway so we're
just doing ajolm investigation.

 
 

 

 

 

Okay.

And um. we're stilL we'll be talking to everybody [hall that wu in any
level so there may be questions that I ask you luduy that you don't know.

   

L'm huml

8: Just tell me you don't know. There may he things you aim remember, Tlml's
totally okay Inn. okay? But. uh, just going to. um  kind of Slafl with some
background ask you about yourself and  and your training and 
and that sort of thing and then we'll kind of get. and the" I'm  pretty sure Ihal
I'll forget to ask something that's ilnpomnll So there'll be a time when I'm just
going to ask you to tell me anything else that I might have forgotten that )uu
think's important or that you   

EXHIBIT

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M:

Yeah.

B:

Yeah. Okay. And um ... so Maya you're not, you no longer work at Highlands
Behavioral, correct?

M:

Correct.

13 :

How long did you work at Highlands?

M:

Three months.

B:

Okay. When did you start there and when did you end there?

M:

April of two thousand thirteen . . .

B:

Okay.

M:

Till ... like the end of April until ... the end of June.

B:

Okay. But you were working there, oh, I got it, okay (inaudible).

M:

Well —July, middle of July actually.

B:

Okay.

M:

Because 1 started ... 1 started at Denver Health on June twenty second.

B:

Okay.

M:

The twenty first actually of J uly.

B:

Okay. And is, arc you still at Denver Health now?

M:

1 am.

B:

Okay. And what, what do you do at Denver Health?

M:

1 am a psych nurse.

B:

Okay. Okay.

So is your background in ... in being a psych nurse or is that was

Highlands the first time that you, you've done that?
M:

Well I've worked Gerry psych.

B:

Okay.

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 M:

Straight out of college.

B:

Okay.

M:

So . . . and then I went to Hospice.

B:

Okay.

M:

The best job ever.

S:

Really? You like it?

M:

tJh, it was (inaudible) Hospice as well.

S:

Oh.

B:

Oh.

M:

Yeah.

S:

Yeah, I'm sure.

B:

Sure.

M:

So it's kind of the same.

S:

I bet that's hard though the first job out of, out of... wow. Good for you. 1 don't

So people arc struggling with their emotions.

know if 1 could do it. T ...
M:

You find the beauty in it.

S:

Yeah.

M:

You really do.

B:

That and it makes a difference in people's lives when they're going through a
really tough time, right?

M:

1 think it's helping them find acceptance for life itself, whatever that life may be.

B:

Oh, yeah.

M:

Many times that looks like (inaudible).

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 B:

And so if at some point during this conversation ... usually 1 do it in the building
you can get up and get out. If you want us to leave at some point just let us know.

M:

Okay.

B:

Okay, you understand that, right?

M:

T will tell you if 1 feel uncomfortable 1 will tell you.

B:

Yeah. Okay, totally fine. Okay just want to make sure.

M:

I'm pretty good at setting boundaries.

B:

Good.

M

Just like a nurse.

B:

Good, good, we like ...

M:

1 set boundaries.

B:

We like that. Sorry but T just, T apologize 'cause I forgot to tell you. But 1 wanted
to make sure that you understand that.

M:

1 understand that, yeah.

B:

Okay, good, good. So you're okay right now with us being here.

M:

Yeah, I'm fine. I cool (inaudible) you could come in (inaudible).

B:

Okay. I just wanted to make, 1 just wanted to make sure.

Urn, okay, so how long

have you been a nurse?
M:

Urn, I was an I.-P-N as of two thousand five.

B:

Okay.

M:

And then I got my R-N ... 1 graduated from school December two thousand

twelve.
B:

Okay.

M:

With my R-N.

B:

Okay.

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 M:

And licensed March of two thousand thirteen.

B:

Okay. Do you guys, so once you finish school then you've got to take the exam,

right.
M:

Take the exam, yeah.

B:

Okay, okay. So ... you had had a number of jobs as an L-P-N and then, but you
were an R-N the whole time that you were at
Yeah

M:

B:

Highlands Behavioral, okay. So ... let's talk about this particular uni ...
day. I've gotten a number of different items from the attorney's involved in this
who represent the corporation.

And it doesn't show you on the schedule, that

doesn't mean anything. Were you not scheduled to be there that night?
M:

1 was.

B:

You were, okay.

So it's just a schedule error on their part probably on what they

gave me. But . . .
M:

1 wasn't on the schedule as far as a floor nurse.

B:

You know, well the schedule, and it doesn't matter, but they gave me that shows

you for like the twenty seventh coming in at three.

So it shows you on like a

swing shift. So what shift were you working then?
M:

Seven A-M to eleven thirty P-M.

B:

Okay. On . . . were you also there the day before on the twenty sixth?

M:

No, 'cause that was a Saturday.

B:

Okay. Okay.

M:

So I worked Saturday and Sunday doubles.

B:

Okay. Oh, 1 got it. I got it. So you started the twenty seventh at seven A-M.

M:

Urn hum.

B:

And you went until eleven thirty at night.

M:

I didn't stay the whole shift.

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 M:

The techs should have been trained for that.

B:

Okay. Okay. Okay, so let's go back, okay, to, um, the morning that Carson was
found dead.

So you, Jill's in there.

What do you do? Tell me, Jill, what do you

see, what, tell me all your observations, what does the room look like, what's
going in the room when you first arrive.
M:

It was a seclusion room.

B:

Okay.

M:

Um ... so it's pretty much a stripped room.

B:

Okay.

M:

Um ... he just had the sheets underneath of him and then blankets over him and a
pillow. Um ... he was laying on his side.

B:

Okay.

M:

It looked like he was, I believe that was his left side. And she was standing kind

of at his back.
B:

So on the opposite side.

M:

Yeah.

B:

Yeah, okay.

M:

He was facing this way and she was standing behind him.

B:

Okay.

M:

And she was shaking him. And she said he's not breathing, he's not moving. So
1 yelled out the door ... you know, get the Crash Cart.

B:

Okay.

M:

Which is basically the ... it, it has all of the ... let's see the defibrillator, oxygen,
those kinds of things.

B:

M:

Okav.

Um ... it's kind of an ... no medication included Crash Cart that you would see at
the hospital.

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 B:

Okay. Okay.

M:

So . . . kind of the same deal. Um . . . we just ripped the covers off of him.

B:

Okav.

M:

And you could see he was just blue.

You could see that rigors had set in.

I

worked llospice for so long so I'm kind of . . .
B:

Okay.

M:

l or me seeing that, you can, you just know.

B:

So tell me about that. So ... he's still laying on his side, right?

M:

Um hum.

B:

And . . . you get the covers, blankets, whatever he had on.

M:

Um hum.

B:

Um ... and you, would you say immediately ... once those arc off ... recognize
that . . .

M:

He was purple, bloated . . .

B:

Okay.

M:

Um ... when we roll him over on his back, his joints ... his leg and his ami were

still up. There was no ... there was no fall of his limbs.
B:

Okay. And that tells you what?

Yt:

Rigors had set in.

B:

Okay.

M:

So he had been down for quite a while.

B:

Okay. So in your experience and again I'm not asking for an exact . . .

M:

Yes.

B:

About how long would you say in a typical environment, controlled environment
like the hospital is, would it take for hill rigor, which he was in, to . . . set in?

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 M:

Well they had a um . . . debriefing as they called it . . . uin . . . downstairs
on the first floor. They had a debriefing. We had everybody that ... was working
at that time.

B:

Okay.

M:

Um, come into one of their, the meeting rooms.

B:

And who did that debriefing?

M:

Um ... Lana and Ray.

B:

Okay. And tell me about that, what is that look like, what is that?

M:

Tt was a b uneh of B- S.

B:

Okay.

M:

Um ...

B:

And that, was that the next day you said or that same day?

M:

No, that day.

B:

Okay. Do you remember about what time they did it? Police still there? Because
that gives me a time frame 'cause I know when they arrived and
1 don't know because 1 never . . . they kind of segregated us all of us who

M:

were there.
B:

Okay.

M:

They segregated us because people kept asking questions.

B:

Okay.

M:

So they decided, they kind of moved us away so people would stop asking us
questions. Um ... so we were all in Jody's, what they call .Tody's office on Unit
One.

13:

Okay.

M:

Is where they had all of us go. And so . . .

B:

.Tody and Jenny we're talking about 1 think? Is that right? Was she . . .

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There's two Jody's.

B:

Okay.

M:

Um ... one was like a social worker lady and the other was a Nurse Manager for

Unit One.
B:

Okav.

M:

Um, but they had us all go sit in her office with the door closed.

B:

Okav.

M:

To kind of keep us away from

B:

Okay

M:

the investigators 1 guess that was their . . .

B:

So the staff... like I. ana and Ray or they had you guys go?

M:

Jody came and told us all to go in there and sit in there.

B:

Really? With the door closed?

M:

Um hum.

B:

Okay.

M:

So...

B:

So that you wouldn't be, in, in your opinion or your understanding.

M:

In my opinion was so that nobody could ask us questions.

B:

Okay.

Did they say why they were putting you in there or you, you just kind of

got that and . . . was that the general sense, is that's what they do';'
M:

That was our ... that's what we were talking about we were in there.

B:

Okay.

M:

Um, they did ask people to write statements.

B:

Okay.

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 M:

To give to

The police did or Lana and

13:
M:

1 don't know who did. Jody just said I need you to write a statement as
to what happened.

B:

Okay. So Jody told you guys. So did they like hand out a blank statement?

M:

A piece, just a blank piece of paper and say ... write who you arc, where you live.

B:

Okay. Do you know what they did with those statements?

M:

1 have no idea.

B:

Okay. So you did, you just ... wrote it out and then gave it back to them?

M:

Yeah.

B:

Okay. So you did write a statement.

M:

1 followed my directions.

B:

Okay. Good for you, that's what you should do.

Um ... how many people were

in that room do you recall?
M:

Um, there were three of us.

B:

Okay. Do you know who they were?

M:

Jody, myself and Jill.

1 don't know who ... there was one that kept coming in

now who? One of the techs or aides.
B:

Okay.

M:

1 j usl don't remember what her name was.

B:

Okay.

M:

She was the, the aide who had come on at seven that morning.

B:

Okay.

M:

I just don't remember ....

B:

Okay.

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 M:

Then you nine one one, you send him over to Sky Ridge.

They're five minutes

away. By ambulance probably not even five.
S:

So you'd be able to save his life if you noticed those things ... and you acted
appropriately?

M:

1 think so.

S:

Okay. That's my questions.

M:

But ... also they have ... I think Highlands is notorious for hiring ... brand new
grads as they did me. They hire brand new grads ... no education, um ... T don't
even know if she was working that night, or not, but they have one new grad who
literally ... this is horrible but ... should have been placed on an M-Onc hold
herself

Um ... kept saying ... I'm scared of those patients, if you keep putting

mc down there I'm going to have to hang myself I'm so scared of them. So if you
have a person like that working, what's the chance that they're actually going to
do their damn job and go and look ... and sec ... what's happening?
S:

Do you know who that is? Do you know what she looks like?

M:

Um, tall, skinny ... if I heard her name I would remember it.

S:

Okay.

M:

But um ... and I think she was working that night actually.

But tall, skinny, long

blonde hair. Um ... what's her name? I don't remember her name. If T heard it I
would remember it just because it was . . .

B:

So they hire these new ... (inaudible).

M:

They hire people with no nursing experience whatsoever.

B:

And give them supervisory positions?

M:

1 got my nursing license in March and was given a House Supervisor, meaning

responsible for the ... entire hospital, like for the whole staffing and ... making
sure that people showed up for work. 1 was responsible for that and 1 had been . . .
1 had managed, 1 managed the weekends for the Hospice T worked lor, so I had
management

B:

And you had been an L-P-N since two thousand and five but by then ...

M:

True, but

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but yeah

M:

as far as a R-N?

B:

Right.

M:

1 had been an R-N for probably, well since March of this year.

B:

Did anybody ever say ... to you we intentionally hire or you just got that based on

what you saw that these are all new nurses and they're charge nurses and they're
House Supervisors.
M:

They're all new nurses.

All of them are moved into supervisory positions and

people usually don't stay more than three or four months.
B:

Do you think that puts patients at risk?

M:

Huge risk.

B:

Okay. Why?

M:

Because you don't know what you're doing.

B:

Do you think that's irresponsible on the part of the corporation

M:

Yes

B:

or the facility to do that sort of tiling?

M:

But you can get a new grad cheaper.

You don't have to pay a new grad ... you

know, you don't, they were able to pay me thirty five dollars an hour whereas

somebody who's been a nurse for five years or ten years they would have had to
pay forty.

B:

Sure.

M:

So why not pay me thirty five.

B:

Right.

M:

And ... get the same thing.

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 S:

Okay

M:

1 don't, 1 don't know.

1 don't think 1 was.

'Cause 1 think afterwards ... 1 got on

my phone and tried to call the C-O or D-O-N Ray
S:

Um hum

and Lana, 1 tried to call them to be like look ... somebody needs to come

M:

down here 'cause T don't know what to do.

1 didn't know legally what all the

mumbo jumbo was 1 needed to deal with all that.

So 1 tried to call in the

management team to get them to come down.
S:

Have you, um, ever dealt with at Highlands Behavioral, um, a patient besides
Carson, anybody else besides C'arson, that had the Fcntanyl patch there?

M:

Oh I'm sure I have

S:

Do you remember if they were . . . like you said, dated or initialed and dated?

M:

I don't know.

S:

You don't remember?

So if, if 1 told you that ... if we, if we found Fcntanyl,

Fcntanyl patches there ... there was no signature or date on them, would that
surprise you?
M:

It wouldn't surprise me no.

S:

Why?

(Pause)

M:

For most people it's a job and ... there's a few, don't get me wrong. There's a lot
of good nurse, there are good nurses there that really do care and that's what they
want to do is work psych.

But for others it's more of a, I'm a new grad 1 need a

job, this is where I can get it. So I'll just do what I have to do to get by. And that
seems to be ...
B:

So is your experience with, we talked about this a little bit ago about hiring the
new grads and ... and putting them in supervisory positions.

What is your

experience at Highlands that ... 'cause 1 understand, T mean somebody's got to
hire new grads, right? All of have to (inaudible - M speaking over B ). . .
M:

Somebody has to hire them, yeah.

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 B:

But ... was it your experience ... was your experience at Highlands either ... then
they would put a very experienced nurse in charge to make sure that these new
grads got the correct training?

Or was your experience ... nope we just hire new

grads and then we're going to ... promote them quickly and then people that don't
know what they're doing arc going to be in charge of other people that don't
know what they're doing.
M:

Pretty much nobody knows what they're doing.

B:

So that second scenario is

M:

Yeah

B:

is

M:

yeah the second scenario is more accurate

a more accurate reflection.

B:

M:

Um, the girl who trained mc actually 1 work with her at Denver Health now. Um,
she hadn't been a nurse a year and she was the charge nurse on night shift and
that's who was training me.

B:

Okay.

M:

But when they say charge nurse ... it's hard to not be the charge nurse when

you're the only nurse. So . . .
B:

There?

M:

Or you're the R-N and you have an L-P-N.

B:

Yeah.

M:

Urn ... the. they have one L-P-N in the building who, 1 would rather her take care
of me any day . . . compared to half of the R-N's there. So . . .

B:

Let me ask you a question.

Do you know who the social workers were at

Hi ghl an ds Behavioral ?
M:

(Pause) 1 don't remember their names.

B:

Okav.

M:

It's...

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