A federal civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Oneida County after an incarcerated individual had a seizure and died in the Oneida County Correctional Facility.
According to a statement from attorneys representing the family, the lawsuit was filed on behalf of Terry Watson, the father of Antwan Cater, a 25-year-old who died on Feb. 13, 2024, after suffering a seizure.
The lawsuit alleges that correctional officers and medical staff failed to provide prompt and adequate medical care, in violation of Cater’s constitutional rights and New York law.
Who was Antwan Cater?
On Dec. 28, 2024, Cater was arrested for shoplifting children’s toys from a local Walmart.
On the day of his arrest, Cater underwent a routine medical screening at booking, which revealed that he suffered from chronic neurological problems related to seizures, chronic psychological problems, and struggled with substance use.
Due to concerns about Cater’s substance use, he was released to begin treatment, which he struggled to attend, according to a statement from attorneys.
Cater was subsequently rearrested after missing court-ordered treatment for substance use and was again incarcerated at OCCF.
According to the complaint, he again disclosed his active substance use and his history of psychiatric and medical problems.
Despite these disclosures, the complaint alleges that he received inadequate medical care while in custody, a failure that the New York State Commission of Correction (COC) independently reinforced by concluding that there were “significant issues with the medical response and resuscitation measures,” including a “significant delay” in providing CPR and contacting emergency services.
How did Antwan Cater die?
According to a statement from the family’s attorneys, in the days leading up to his death, Mr. Cater’s behavior reportedly deteriorated — he refused meals, appeared disoriented and non-verbal, and was observed crying, hallucinating, and drinking from the toilet.
The filing further alleges that jail staff and medical personnel documented his condition, but did not provide timely mental health or emergency medical treatment.
On Feb. 13, 2024, Cater experienced a seizure in his cell. Correctional officers and nurses are alleged to have delayed their response before checking on him.
The complaint further contends that when medical staff arrived, CPR was not initiated immediately, and that life-saving measures began approximately 15 minutes after Cater was first found unresponsive.
Body-worn camera footage
Provided by the attorneys for the family of Cater, body-worn camera footage shows two corrections officers walking into Antwan’s cell, who can be seen lying on the floor, unresponsive.
“Antwan. Hey Antwan. Antwan. Antwan,” a corrections officer calls out.
After not receiving a response or any movement from Cater, one of the corrections officers is seen crouching down and gives a sternum rub, with no reaction.
“Hey Antwan. You alive,” the corrections officer asks.
Three COs are standing around Cater and the one who gave the sternum rub asked for smelling salts.
A beep can be heard as another CO turns on their body-worn camera footage. No one has checked Cater for a pulse or for breathing yet.
Two nurses arrive and one, a male, begins talking as he puts on gloves. “Antwan, you got to talk to me. What’s going on?” he asks. “You’re not happy here? You gotta talk to me. I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”
After getting no response from Cater, the nurse leans down and can be seen touching Cater. “How long has he been like this?” the nurse asks.
A second nurse arrives and gives the first a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff. He can be seen taking Cater’s blood pressure.
“Call a code seven. We have a man dead. I can’t hear a pulse,” the first nurse says. Upon hearing this, the second nurse checks Cater’s neck pulse point. The first nurse leaves and a third nurse replaces him, with nurses two and three checking vitals.
“He’s not breathing,” the second nurse says. The first nurse returns with the a pack of medical equipment and tells someone to call EMS.
Alleged wrongful death
According to the complaint, for nearly 40 minutes, while staff took turns administering chest compressions, correctional and medical staff made light of the situation, cracked jokes, made inappropriate comments about Cater, complained about broken and inadequate medical equipment, and made various other statements demonstrating a total disregard for Cater’s well-being.
Body-worn camera footage captures jail staff commenting that the IVs “suck.”
Another asked, “is there any-exemplative-thing that works around here?” Another commented on an air leak in the respirator, while one staff member expressed regret signing up for the shift. Another nurse laughed and replied, “a little bit…this is supposed to be a short shift. Real fun,” then she checked her watch.
One nurse asked the others, “does this qualify for our education?” Another nurse responded, “sure,” and another noted, “this is good training,” which caused multiple nurses to laugh. The same nurse then joked about how she “literally just burned a thousand calories” performing CPR on Cater, and that she was “too fat” to do CPR for a long period of time.
Another nurse jokingly lamented that they had to continue doing CPR even though Cater was dead because she did not want to lose her medical license. “I like my license, thanks,” she said, which caused the other nurses to laugh again.
Previous death
Prior to Cater’s death, the County had notice of another incident in which timely provide emergency medical care was not provided, the complaint asserts.
On April 27, 2023, less than one year before Antwan’s death, Milik Burnett, a 25-year-old, died of an accidental fentanyl drug overdose in OCCF custody after OCCF failed to respond to his medical emergency, the lawsuit states.
According to the COC’s investigation into Mr. Burnett’s death, OCCF Correction Officers “failed to properly conduct housing area supervision tours” at 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. and, as a result, when Burnett overdosed on fentanyl and began experiencing a medical emergency, OCCF staff failed to provide necessary immediate emergency medical treatment.
When an OCCF correction officer eventually conducted a supervisory watch tour at approximately 8 a.m., he discovered Burnett laying on his bunk, choking on foam coming from his mouth. Correction officers and an OCCF nurse took Mr. Burnett to a triage room just outside the housing unit, where EMS arrived at approximately 8:28 a.m. and administered Narcan, but it was too late to save him, according to the complaint.
On May 4, 2023, the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office initiated an internal investigation into the correction officer who was supervising Burnett’s unit the day he died. OCSO substantiated a finding that the officer provided a false statement and falsified facility tour logs, which falsely indicated that he had conducted supervisory watch tours in the hour before Mr. Burnett was found experiencing an overdose in his cell. The same correction officer ultimately pled guilty to a criminal charge of falsifying business records and was terminated from the OCSO.
Statement from Cater’s father
A statement was released by Terry Watson, Cater’s father, saying the loss of his son has devastated his family and everyone who knew Cater.
“He cared deeply for his family and friends, and they cared deeply for him. To us, he was the one who made Fruity Pebble pancakes, the festive one who loved to decorate for and celebrate the holidays, the one we were proud of for going back to school, and the one with big eyebrows, big hair, and a big heart,” Watson said.
He continued, saying “Sheriff Robert Maciol said on Dec. 27th, 2024, in a statement about the death of Robert Brooks, that ‘every human being deserves to be treated ethically and with dignity and respect.’ Those words should mean something — not just as statements for press releases, but for everyone behind the walls of the Oneida County Jail. For my son, Antwan, those words were not true.”
Watson said he was not a perfect father and that his son had his troubles, but “…this nightmare” was exactly what he had been trying to prevent for years.
“All I can do now is work to prevent this from happening to any other families and seek justice for Antwan,” Watson said.
