Grieving mom wants son’s belongings three years after his death of ‘agitated delirium’ – News-Press

It's been more than three years and Dani Truckenmiller is still baffled byher son's cause of death.

Excited delirium? What's that, she's wondered.

Willard Truckenmiller, a Lee County sheriff's deputy,died two days after having an incident at aneast Fort Myers barwhere emergency medical services administeredketamine.

Dani Truckenmiller and her son, Willard Truckenmiller, photographed for the last time together before Willard Truckenmiller was pronounced brain dead on May 5, 2016.(Photo: Courtesy of Dani Truckenmiller)

The medical examiner deemed his death an accident and listed 'agitated delirium' as acause.However, she's not so sure.

Agitated or excited delirium is arare and controversial condition oftenlinked to law enforcement involvement in dealing with people behaving violently.

Overall, 85 people have been determinedto have died of the condition in Florida over the last 10 years.

For decades,critics of using "excited delirium" as a cause of deathhave expressed concern that the term appears almost exclusively on medical reports for deaths in custody or that otherwise involve law enforcement.

More: Excited delirium: Rare and deadly syndrome or a condition to excuse deaths by police?

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Did 'excited delirium' kill a 38-year-old Army veteran after an altercation at the Brevard County jail? Was it an accident? Or was it something else? Rob Landers, Bobby Block and Alessandro Sassoon, Florida Today

Abouttwo-thirds of cases reviewed by the USA TODAY Networkfit that bill.

In Collier and Lee counties, there have beenseven excited delirium-related deaths in the last decade, three of them confirmed law enforcement was involved.

Truckenmiller, 32, was a Marine Corps veteran who had suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2007after being exposed to a blast of an improvised explosive device overseas.

Afterfive years with the sheriff's office, he had beenassigned to a drug taskforce when the incidentoccurred on May 3, 2016.

Willard Truckenmiller and his sister Jennifer Truckenmiller. On May 3, 2016, Willard Truckenmiller had an incident at a Fort Myers bar where EMS administered ketamine. Two days later he was brain dead.(Photo: Dani Truckenmiller)

According to reports, he was celebrating his birthday at the Shores Bar and Grillon Palm Beach Boulevard in east Fort Myers. Just before 2 p.m., sheriff's deputiesresponded to a report of an intoxicated and disorderly male.They found Truckenmillerdisplaying "agitated and unusual behavior."

He was speaking incoherently and didn't recognize his fellow officers, according to the autopsy report.

Thereport stated Truckenmiller didn't appear to be oriented and when deputies tried to make contact with him he assumed a fighting stance. He also made aggressive lunges toward the officers, it said.

More: Lee deputy died of brain injury after ketamine treatment for alcohol-induced delirium

They handcuffed him and forced him to into a seated position on the ground, it said.Lee County EMS had given him ketamine for their safety, according to the report.

Just minutes later, he went into cardiac arrest after having breathing difficulty and a decreased heart rate, his autopsy report indicates.He coded for a second time before getting to the hospital.

Truckenmiller was admitted to Lee Memorial Hospital's intensive care unit where he remained sedated andon a ventilator. His condition worsened over two days and doctors declared him brain dead on May 5, 2016.

A sheriff's report confirmed the incident but provided little other details.The sheriff's office did not respond to requests for comment.

Dani Truckenmillersaid when she spoke to the fire department workers who responded to the scene, they said her son was sitting while handcuffed and was agitated, but not aggressive so there was no need for ketamine.

Deputy Willard Truckenmiller died May 4, 2016. He was a Lee County Sheriff's deputy, volunteer football coach and father to two children. Photo provided by our partners at WINK News.(Photo: WINK News)

Although there's no evidence to support it, his mother believes someone must have put something in his drink. Her son had never acted like this before and he didn't do drugs.

Dani Truckenmiller, who lived in Lee County but has moved to Jasper, Florida, believes that emergency medical services killed her son when they gave him the ketamine.

Ketamine is an anesthetic thatis used as a sedative. According to drugfree.org, a low dose of ketamine can result in impaired attention, learning ability and memory. In a high dose, it can cause delirium, amnesia, impaired motor function, high blood pressure, depression, and potentially fatal respiratory problems.

"EMS made a big mistake that night," she said.

Lee County EMS hadno comment, said county Communications Director Betsy Clayton in an email.

Truckenmiller was given500 mg of ketamine, the autopsy report states. The standard dose to treat agitated and violent patients is about 400 mg,Deborah C. Mash, a professor of neurology and molecular and cellular pharmacology at the University of Miami, said in her report to the medical examiner.

Lee County EMS' own treatment guidelines suggest protocol is to administer 450 mg of ketamine for an adult male.

Mash received Truckenmiller's brain specimens for analysis and to screen for excited delirium syndrome.

In her report, she stated that Truckenmiller received a higher dose of ketamine than what is recommended and the combination of ketamine and ethanol, the alcohol in his system, poseda risk for respiratory toxicity.

That mixture cancause a coma or death, Mash said in the report. That report also said she wasunable to provide a complete work-up to test forexcited delirium.

Willard Truckenmiller with his twin brother Christopher Truckenmiller. On May 3, 2016, Willard Truckenmiller had an incident at a Fort Myers bar where EMS administered ketamine. Two days later he was brain dead.(Photo: Courtesy of Dani Truckenmiller)

But the medical examiner listed Truckenmiller'scause of death in part due to "combined acute ethanol intoxication and ketamine administration for the treatment of alcohol-induced agitated delirium."

Dani Truckenmiller said she didn't know back then what excited delirium was, and, today, she still doesn't understand it.

Throughout the whole process, things just seemed sketchy, she said. At first, they couldn't get a police report, then a different police report came out a year later and to this day she still hasn't received her son's belongings.

"If we can take action, we will take action," Dani Truckenmiller said.

In Collier County, a case involving excited delirium involveda schizophrenic man who died shortly after police shocked him multiple times with a Taser.

Linel Lormeus, 26, died Dec. 12, 2010, and his cause of death was excited delirium due to schizophrenia. His manner of death was deemed natural by the medical examiner.

According to reports, Collier County sheriff's deputieswere dispatched to a suspicious incident involving a mentally disturbed individual at 11:18 p.m. that night.

After a foot pursuit, deputies found Lormeus locked inside an apartment. They spoke with his mother who informed them he had mental issues and he had been on medication for it in Haiti, but he hadn't been on anything here.

Theyconvinced Lormeus to unlock the door and he attempted to get out, but deputies stopped him because there was a report that he was armed, the report states.

They could see he had his jacket clenched under his arm and he was wide-eyed and sweating. Deputies could feel a knife wrapped up in his jacket, but theygot Lormeus to drop it.

They tried to handcuff him, but he was resisting and injured an officer's knees during the struggle.

That's when they deployed a Taser, but Lormeus continued to scream and thrash about, according to the report.

A few other attempts were made to shock him into submission, but they believed that it was not functioning properly so another deputy tried his Taser, which caused Lormeus to fall.

He continued to kick at officers, so they shocked him again and again to gain control, the report states.

Once they had himsecured, he went limp and unconscious. They began CPR and Lormeus began breathing again but hedied 30 minutes later at the hospital.

According to his autopsy report, no drugs were detected in his system.

The sheriff's officeProfessional Responsibility Bureau conducted an administrative investigation after Lormeus' death, which the office said is standard procedure.

"The PRB investigation determined that the actions of the deputies involved were lawful and reasonable and that all policies and procedures were followed in ourinteractions with Mr. Lormeus," Collier County Sheriff's Public Information Officer Michelle Batten said in an email.

His family could not be reached for comment.

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Grieving mom wants son's belongings three years after his death of 'agitated delirium' - News-Press

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