Obituaries:  Charles Knippers, Sabine Parish       K-516
Source:  Sabine Index, Many, La., Mar 18, 1976
Submitted by: Carl Dilbeck
              carlrad@earthlink.net


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Charles Knippers

  Sabine Parish Sheriff George Cook and his deputies testified
Wednesday, March 10, in federal court in Shreveport, and denied
claims that they failed to provide prompt medical treatment to a
Many man who died from injuries he received in the Sabine Parish
jail.

  Charles Knippers, 42, died Oct. 26, 1974, in Confederate
Memorial Medical Center (CMMC), after he allegedly fell off a
lower bunk, Oct. 25, and hit his head on the concrete floor in
the jail's drunk tank. Knippers had been arrested Oct. 23, on a
worthless check charge.

  Knippers three children filed suit in federal court, claiming
the Sabine Parish Sheriff's Office did not provide prompt,
adequate medical care to Knippers, and lost critical time driving
80 miles to the Shreveport hospital, rather than taking Knippers
to a Many hospital.

  Cook testified at the suit's trial, that Knippers appeared to
have received only a small laceration on the head in his fall,
and that he remained conscious. Cook said Knippers had a serious
drinking problem, and seemed to be suffering more from delirium
tremens, explaining that he did not think Knippers had hurt
himself seriously in the fall. He said he transferred Knippers
that day to CMMC, which had special facilities for the treatment
of alcoholics.

  A CMMC nurse testified that the head laceration was small, but
that further examination revealed that Knippers had received a
skull fracture, and needed surgery for a blood clot.

  Knippers underwent surgery Oct. 25, and died the next morning.

  The suit was settled out of court for $10,000, after the first
day of the trial.