Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

The federal government has released a key witness today in the criminal and civil lawsuit surrounding the death of Hiu Lui "Jason'' Ng, a Chinese national who died while in the custody of the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility last summer.

John J. McConnell Jr., a lawyer representing Ng's family in the wrongful-death lawsuit, said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement released Roger Gracias Lozano from a detention facility in York, Pa. Gracias Lozano is expected to board a flight at the Harrisburg airport. He will transfer in Philadelphia and take a 5 p.m. flight to Phoenix, Ariz. to reunite with his wife and children.

McConnell said that his law firm, Motley Rice LLC, paid for the one-way airline ticket.

Several months ago, an immigration judge ordered Gracias Lozano deported to El Salvador after he was arrested in Vermont. He had been seeking asylum in Canada and was detained after he cross the border back into the United States.

Gracias Lozano and Ng spent time together at the Wyatt jail in Central Falls and a county jail in Vermont.

A few weeks ago, a federal prosecutor representing ICE announced in court that the agency had reversed itself and was no longer seeking to deport Gracias Lozano. Instead, the wanted him to remain in this country to assist federal prosecutors investigating civil-rights violations against Wyatt corrections officers and nursing staff for their treatment of Ng.

Three separate Investigations into Ng's death concluded that jail officials ignored the detainee's pleas for help and he was dragged across a cement sally port. A few days later, Ng died from liver cancer and a fractured spine which his lawyers claim was result of his brutal treatment in the jail.

In the wrongful-death lawsuit, McConnell has said that Gracias Lozano served as Ng's "guardian angel,'' and witnessed the way his cellmate was treated during the final weeks and days of his life.

McConnell said there are no immediate plans to return Gracias Lozano to Rhode Island for the criminal and civil investigations.

"I'm going to let him get back to his family,'' he said.

 Tags  Central Falls RI Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility Hiu Lui ``Jason'' Ng Roger Gracias Lozano

Comments

John said:

I don't get it...Why is Lozano not being kept in custody if there "are no immediate plans" to return him for the investigations? How much credibility will he even have as a witness, he is now beholden to McConnell for getting him a free pass to see his family. This is disgusting, and McConnell and the ACLU should be ashamed of themselves for exploiting the Ng family to further their own agendas.

Link | April 10, 2009 6:28 PM
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