Two weeks before he was to be released from prison, Patrick Odale was pepper-sprayed, held down, and killed by corrections officers, according to a lawsuit filed this week.

The mother of his children is suing multiple government agencies and officials over his death.

Odale, 39, was pronounced dead at Southern Desert Correctional Center on Dec. 28, 2023, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections.

After a months-long investigation, the Clark County Coroner’s Office found that he died by “positional and mechanical asphyxia in the setting of law enforcement restraint,” meaning that he had been placed in a position that prevented him from breathing properly. His death was ruled a homicide.

An autopsy report for Odale said that “the combined effects of recent and remote substance use” also contributed to his death.

Odele had served less than a year and a half of a one- to four-years sentence for possession of a stolen credit card and attempt to carry a concealed explosive, gun or weapon.

Represented by James Urrutia of LJU Law, Amy Estrada, who is the mother of Odale’s two children, ages 15 and 12, filed a complaint filed Monday against the Nevada Department of Corrections and the Clark County Coroner’s office, alleging negligence, excessive force and wrongful death, among other things.

“Patrick endured terror, humiliation, and conscious physical agony during the prolonged restraint and denial of medical care, as evidenced by his pleas for help, and the coroner’s findings,” the lawsuit read. “Nevada Department of Corrections systematically and deliberately promulgated unconstitutional practices and maintained a pervasive pattern of abuse that directly led to Patrick’s tragic and preventable death.”

Officials with the Nevada Department of Corrections and Clark County declined to comment on the lawsuit.

‘A gap in the footage’

In the moments leading to his death, Odale, suffering an asthma attack and seeking medical help, had approached correctional officers in the “bubble area” of his unit at Three Lakes Valley Conservation Camp, which neighbors Southern Desert, according to Estrada’s lawsuit. Immediately, the complaint alleged, Christopher Day, Candace Chambers, Alizabeth Vasquez, and other officers not named, pepper-sprayed Odale, backing him into a tool closet.

When the officers removed him, they slammed his head into the steel door frame at least three times, Urrutia said in the suit.

At some point, they had also used “repeated punching, kicking, and batons” on Odale, the complaint added.

Minutes later, Odale became unresponsive before he was pronounced dead.

In the suit, Urrutia also said that the department failed to address “documented concerns about staffing shortages and increasing safety hazards.” As a result, correctional officers were inadequately trained and supervised, contributing to Odale’s death.

After Odale’s death, the suit said, the correctional officers involved, the Department of Corrections director, James Dzurenda, the warden, Ronald Oliver, and the assistant warden, Kimberly McCoy, conspired to destroy and modify Odale’s medical records and video surveillance of the incident to “downplay the extent of (his) injuries and conceal evidence of excessive force.”

As noted in the lawsuit, the coroner’s autopsy report suggests a “gap” in the surveillance footage recovered from the scene.

Dzurenda, Oliver, McCoy, as well as the three officers alleged to have been directly involved in Odale’s beating, are also being sued personally.

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