MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - The New Hampshire attorney general’s office is not filing any criminal charges in the case of a man involved in physical confrontations with hospital and jail guards.
Fernando Ornelas was in a car accident in October and was taken to Elliott Hospital, where authorities say he started punching a security guard. He was taken to Manchester police, then to jail.
The attorney general’s office says Ornelas punched and head-butted his cell door and had to be restrained. He was later brought back to the hospital after he was found to be unresponsive. Doctors determined he suffered a back injury.
The attorney general’s office said it couldn’t determine how Ornelas was injured and that the guards’ use of force against him was justified.
The report said “the medical records reveal that Ornelas suffers from a medical condition which makes him far more susceptible to spinal fractures, even from trivial trauma, which may not become symptomatic for days. As a result, the timing and cause of his injuries cannot be established with any certainty.”
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