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Nurse on duty the night of May 27 jail incident no longer working for Washington County

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The licensed practical nurse on duty at the jail the night a dispute arose over the medical condition of a man arrested for drunken driving by city police is no longer employed by Washington County.

Ronald Markle, 53, of Washington, contends he was fired the night of the incident May 27, but he expects the county to say he quit his job.

City police Officer Joseph Moore arrived at the jail the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend with a prisoner, Benjamin Burgess, and when jail Capt. Wendy Harris, shift commander, told Moore Burgess first needed to be cleared by a doctor due to a pre-existing medical condition, Moore handcuffed Harris and said he would file a charge against her.

No charge was filed against Harris. Moore was placed on administrative duty June 15, the same day an initial story about the incident appeared in the Observer-Reporter.

Harris, in Washington County Court, has filed a writ of summons against Moore, the City of Washington and the city police department. Police Chief Robert Wilson said Friday his department has completed its internal investigation, which Wilson is now reviewing.

“We’re all supposed to be on the same damn team, and look at this,” Markle said of jail video-camera surveillance obtained this week by the Observer-Reporter under the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know law.

The video shows interaction among several people. There was no audio recording.

This screenshot from a security video provided by Washington County jail shows Ronald Markle working at the jail May 27.

Markle was one of those present in the surveillance footage. He was in his office at the jail, scheduled to work from 10 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday, when he received a call that informed him, “We got a guy here with staples in his head.”

Burgess, who according to court records from a previous criminal case was recovering from brain surgery to repair an aneurysm, had staples and swelling above his left ear, Markle said. When examining him, Markle said Burgess’ “left eye was tracking slowly.”

“He seemed to be intoxicated,” Markle said. “I was really concerned. I asked, ‘Did someone hit you?'”

Symptoms of brain trauma can resemble intoxication, so Markle said he was being cautious and professionally correct in requiring Burgess be cleared medically by seeing a doctor at the Washington Hospital emergency room, a potentially time-consuming task for the law enforcement official who would be watching the defendant, before the jail would accept him as an inmate.

Moore took Burgess into custody on a drunken driving charge, and he was also wanted on a warrant for a similar offense in Beaver County.

He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in July in Washington.

Markle said Burgess later told him an officer put a hand on his head while putting him in the seat back of a police car.

“I told the officer, ‘He has to be cleared,'” Markle said, referring to Burgess.

“There was a guy who just had brain surgery. There’s swelling. I’m upset. Maybe I was overly cautious.”

But neither, he said, could jail personnel “just open the door and let the guy go.”

Markle also placed significance on Burgess proceeding beyond a vestibule at the jail’s enclosed vehicle entrance, or “sally port,” if he began experiencing medical difficulties.

“Once they cross that threshold, that door, they are the jail’s responsibility. They are the county’s responsibility, from what I’m told,” he said. “The county would have had to pay the bill” if Burgess, while a prisoner, had developed a medical problem.

Capt. Harris spoke with Warden Edward Strawn by phone about Burgess’ condition, and Strawn later arrived at the jail, tried to defuse the situation, and Burgess was taken to a holding cell.

The warden and Markle spoke to each other.

The LPN said he ended the conversation by throwing up his hands and saying, “I’m done with this.”

Markle said he meant he was done speaking with Strawn, and he intended to return to his office to call his boss, jail nursing supervisor Cheryl McGavitt.

“I’m going to talk to Cheryl. I got a license to protect,” Markle said Thursday.

Strawn’s response, according to Markle, was that he, as warden, had authority over McGavitt, and he allegedly told the LPN, “I don’t need you no more, soldier. You are dismissed, soldier.”

Markle said of the warden, “He’s got witnesses that said I quit. I never quit.”

Strawn did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Prison Board Chairman Larry Maggi, who is also chairman of the Washington County Board of Commissioners, said of Markle’s situation, “That is a personnel issue. I really can’t discuss the details now.”

Markle said he watched the video on the Observer-Reporter website and became upset because Burgess appeared to have entered the jail without being cleared medically.

“If he (Strawn) is going to accept him, why did we have to go through all that?” Markle asked Thursday.

Markle said he’s not planning to sue Washington County, and he expects to be working elsewhere next week.

Staff writer Katie Anderson contributed to this article.

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