Brickbat: Let Him Sleep It Off

When Adam Phillips didn't respond to texts or phone calls from family, his girlfriend asked Clearwater, Florida, police to do a welfare check. Cpl. David Nugent and an officer who wasn't named by the media entered Phillips' apartment and shouted several times for him. They found him lying in bed, but rather than actually enter the bedroom and check on him, Nugent tossed a magazine that landed on Phillips arm. Phillips did not respond. Nugent called the girlfriend and told her Phillips was at home and breathing but she should find another boyfriend. The next day other officers did a second welfare check and found Phillips dead in his bed with the magazine still where it had landed. An autopsy found he died from an accidental overdose of medicine he was prescribed for chronic pain. The department issued a reprimand to Nugent for failing "to conduct the appropriate inquiries commonly done for such a call."