Broward Cuts Off Medical Funds For Latino Man Mistakenly Shot In Head by Police
Sunday, March 20, 2005 at 09:15PM
TheSpook
A Mexican immigrant shot in the head
in November by a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy was discharged Tuesday
from an assisted living center where he had been recovering. German
Gomez, 22, left the Williamsburg Landing center in Wilton Manors around
10:30 a.m. in a wheelchair. Gomez was discharged after the Sheriff's
Office stopped paying for his care. Gomez will continue his recovery at
the Whispering Isles apartments, where Deputy Lewis Perry shot him on
Nov. 3. He'll be sharing a second-story, two-bedroom apartment with up
to 10 other men. There are no elevators and Gomez had to be carried up
the stairs. "Perhaps he will sleep on the floor," said his attorney,
David Kubiliun, "We just don't know." The Sheriff's Office had been
covering Gomez's medical expenses since he was released from North
Broward Medical Center on Dec. 14. Gomez needs a helmet to support the
left side of his head, where the bullet struck. He's able to walk with
assistance and speak for brief periods. The shooting, which Kubiliun
said was unjustified, is being investigated by the Sheriff's Office,
the State Attorney's Office and the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to a March 8 memo to Kubiliun, Gomez's doctors recommended
that he continue physical, occupational and speech therapy for another
one to two months. That's not available to Gomez in the apartment,
Kubiliun said. Gomez's brothers, also Mexican immigrants, will give him
the medicine he left the center with, which should last about three
days, Kubiliun said. The brothers say they have no money to buy more
medicine. They and Kubiliun want Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne to keep
paying for Gomez's care in the assisted living center, which according
to Kubiliun runs some $10,000 a month. According to the Mexican
Consulate and Kubiliun -- who has notified the sheriff he intends to
sue -- arrangements had been made with the Sheriff's Office to cover
Gomez's medical expenses. [more] and [more]
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