Pueblo, Colorado – Negligent homicide charges against four St. Mary Corwin Hospital security officers have been dropped due to insufficient evidence.
The charges against Anthony Virant, Anthony Ruff, Drake Castro, and Randy Vialpando stemmed from the February 2021 death of Mathew Jones, a patient at the facility.
A struggle between Jones and the officers happened after Jones refused medical treatment for gout and wouldn’t leave the hospital, reports KRDO.
Surveillance video showed the hospital security officers talking with Jones for about 18 minutes. Jones then fell to the ground after resisting officers’ attempts to push him toward the door. The officers went to the ground with Jones and used various maneuvers to restrain him. Jones died eight days later.
He was determined to have died from “anoxic brain injury due to cardiopulmonary arrest during physical restraint in the setting of morbid obesity, methamphetamine, and probably cocaine intoxication, and cardiomegaly with cardiac fibrosis.”
In a motion obtained by the Pueblo Chieftain, 10th Judicial District Attorney Jeff Chostner said, “The case was dismissed because additional information was revealed through continuing investigation of the matter. A previously undiscovered witness was disclosed and nuances in the pathologist report indicated that the evidence in the case was not sufficient, in my opinion, to sustain a conviction. Therefore, based on my evaluation of the case, and my ethical requirements, I didn’t believe I could proceed further with the case.”
Ruff and Vialpando apologized to the Jones family for Mathew’s death. All but one of the hospital security officers are still employed at St. Mary-Corwin.
