The family of Joey Gabor, a 41-year-old man who died in police custody last week, demanded answers Thursday during an emotional plea at the Philadelphia City Council meeting.
“He was my brother. He was a son. He was an uncle. He was a grandson,” Joey Gabor’s sister, Leslie Gabor, said through tears during public comment. “And all we know is we have no answers.”
“He walked into [the Police Detention Unit] last Wednesday, and he never came out,” she continued. “And we want to know why.”
Joey Gabor, a lifelong Fishtown resident, was arrested Dec. 11 in Kensington on the 200 block of E. Tusculum Street and transported to police headquarters the same day, according to Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson Eric Gripp.
On Dec. 12, he was found unresponsive in his cell at 8:47 p.m., “with drug paraphernalia found around the body,” according to a police alert sent through the city’s employee notification system. Medics pronounced him dead at 9:26 p.m.
As of Thursday, the city medical examiner was still working to determine the cause of death, according to Jim Kyle, spokesperson for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
Joey Gabor’s death comes as City Council considers a resolution presented by At-Large Councilmember Kendra Brooks to authorize hearings on recent deaths of people in city custody, including Amanda Cahill and Michael McKinnis.
Cahill, 31, of Roxborough, died in September, three days after her arrest in a 34-person Kensington narcotics sweep. She was found unresponsive in her cell at the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center. Days later, McKinnis, 61, was found unresponsive in his cell at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, where the Defenders Association of Philadelphia said his unit had been left unsupervised overnight.
“These deaths cannot be swept under the rug because we were too busy working on a playground for billionaires,” Brooks said Thursday, referencing the ongoing debate over the Sixers arena. “This fall, Amanda Cahill’s family spoke directly to this chamber so that her death might not be in vain.”
In a separate but related measure, City Council voted to approve the creation of a prison oversight board that monitors the city’s jails.
“I know there’s a lot of other stuff going on,” said At-Large Councilmember Isaiah Thomas during Thursday’s meeting. “But at the end of the day, since Thanksgiving alone, there have been four stabbings at the prisons and two guards charged with smuggling contraband.”
On Monday, the District Attorney’s Office announced charges against two corrections officers accused of smuggling contraband, including cell phones and Suboxone — a medication used to treat opioid use disorder — into Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.
Unlike Cahill and McKinnis, who died in the custody of the Philadelphia Department of Prisons at the State Road prison complex, Joey Gabor died at the Police Detention Unit in the custody of the Philadelphia Police Department.
The police department declined to comment on any medical attention Joey Gabor “may have received” while in custody. However, Gripp noted that, as part of the intake process, “there is a nurse available at the PDU 24/7, and all prisoners receive a medical assessment upon intake.” Corrections officers are required to conduct cell-block checks every 15 minutes to monitor people’s wellbeing, Gripp said.
Andrew Pappas, managing director of pretrial services for the Defenders Association of Philadelphia, said Gabor was arraigned Dec. 12 around 2:30 p.m. According to Pappas, someone arraigned at that time would normally be transported to State Road by 5 p.m.
“Why he was still in a holding cell at the PDU seven hours later is beyond me,” Pappas said. “How he was found with drug paraphernalia surrounding his body, also beyond me.”
Gabor was held on a $50,000 sign-on bond for his Philadelphia possession case but remained in custody due to outstanding warrants in Chester County for simple possession, and Delaware County for simple possession and a DUI, according to Pappas.
Pappas suggested lapses in monitoring and security at the Police Detention Unit may have contributed to Joey Gabor’s death.
“If this was an overdose, and he was using in a holding cell at the PDU, that’s incredibly problematic and a failure on the part of the [police],” he said.
As of Dec. 19, the city has shared little information about Joey Gabor’s death, Leslie Gabor said in an interview with Kensington Voice.
“I want answers and I will not stop,” she told council members Thursday.
“Do you see my face?” she continued. “This is my first [council meeting] and it won’t be my last.”
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