Family of McKeesport man who died in Allegheny County Jail files wrongful death lawsuit

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court claims Allegheny County Jail officials didn’t provide a wheezing inmate who had chronic asthma with his inhaler for up to 30 days.

Paul C. Allen, a McKeesport barber and father of three who was supposed to use his inhaler eight times a day, died on Oct. 9, 2021, the lawsuit said. He was 55.

Jail officials were aware of Allen’s breathing problems when police brought him to the Downtown jail on Sept. 10, 2021, in connection with a DUI case, according to his family’s attorney, George Kontos.

Allen entered the jail with his Advair inhaler, Kontos said. Nurses at the jail noted that he was hospitalized a month earlier for asthma exacerbation and wrote on his intake forms that he suffered from chronic asthma, lawsuit said.

Kontos said jail officials never provided Allen with his inhaler and he was moved to a medical housing unit when he became ill, Kontos said.

Allen was found unresponsive in the jail’s medical housing unit on Oct. 9, 2021, the lawsuit said. He was taken to UPMC Mercy hospital, where he died the same day.

“They just literally did not get (his inhaler) to him, despite him asking repeatedly,” Kontos said. “His Advair was essentially life-sustaining for him.”

“It’s clear that there’s a problem at the jail, and it’s clear that they continue to have preventable deaths,” he added. “It’s a very unfortunate and tragic situation.”

The Allen family’s lawsuit seeks damages from Allegheny County, the county jail and Allegheny Health Network, which provides health services at the jail.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that Allen died of natural causes from bronchial asthma, according to county spokeswoman Amie Downs.

Jail spokesman Jesse Geleynse declined to comment on the pending lawsuit. An AHN spokesperson also declined to comment.

The lawsuit — backed by Allen’s two daughters and one son — seeks more than $75,000, but does not specify a total amount.

It remains unclear why Allen was taken to county jail on Sept. 10, 2021, Kontos said. He said it might have been related to a possible probation violation stemming from a DUI conviction the previous year.

Court records show that Turtle Creek police charged Allen with DUI after they said they found his car stopped on the Tri-Boro Expressway around 2 a.m. Jan. 25, 2020. His blood-alcohol level was 0.157%, nearly twice the legal limit, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.

Allen pleaded guilty to a DUI charge on Dec. 9, 2020, and was sentenced to two to four days in jail, plus six months of probation. He also was ordered to attend safe driving school and pay a $500 fine.

Kontos said Allen’s death “is not obviously the first time something like this has happened.”

Kontos previously represented inmate Frank Smart Jr., who died less than 48 hours after he arrived at the county jail in 2015. The county agreed to pay a $950,000 settlement on the eve of a related civil trial in 2018.

Smart had been taken to the jail after being arrested the night of Jan. 3, 2015, according to a criminal complaint filed in that case. At 11 a.m. the next day, he told jail officials that he needed to take medication twice a day to prevent seizures.

Jail officials didn’t provide Smart with his medication until that evening, the complaint said. He suffered a seizure and died the next day. He was 39.