Antifreeze poisoning killed a 20-year-old mentally ill man who was found dead Dec. 15 in an Anne Arundel County police holding cell, a Maryland medical examiner said yesterday.
Family members of Philip Anselm Montgomery, of Lusby, said yesterday that they also have learned that Montgomery apparently told officers he had consumed the toxic substance but that police didn't believe him.
Montgomery's mother, Betty, said Anne Arundel police investigators have told her that arresting officers believed her son was drinking vodka and orange juice from an open container found in his car.
Philip Montgomery, who had been arrested on drunken driving charges, was not put through normal roadside sobriety tests because officers believed he was too unsteady and might harm himself. Although officials have said it is routine for a suspect acting strangely to be evaluated by medical personnel, Montgomery received no medical attention.
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Toxicology tests showed that Montgomery had no alcohol in his system at the time he died, according to Betty Montgomery. She said she had told officers before her son died that he probably was not drunk, that he was a diagnosed schizophrenic and that he had been hospitalized twice for depression in the four months before his arrest.
Lt. Joseph E. Jordan, an Anne Arundel police spokesman, declined to comment on most of Betty Montgomery's allegations, citing an internal investigation. He confirmed that officers thought Montgomery was drunk and that police did not call the department's Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team, an on-call unit intended to help officers deal with mentally ill people.
Two officers, whose names have not been disclosed, have been reassigned to desk jobs.
Although the autopsy report has not been released, Assistant Medical Examiner Jack Titus said Montgomery died of ethylene glycol intoxication, a kidney-corroding condition brought on by drinking antifreeze.
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Rose Ann Soloway, clinical toxicologist at the National Capital Poison Center in the District, said the body breaks down ethylene glycol, producing sharp microscopic shards that shred the kidney. Victims who have ingested antifreeze "may appear inebriated," she said.
Philip Montgomery had moved back into his mother's home recently after experiencing a bout of mental health problems while living in Hawaii with his wife, who is in the Navy, Betty Montgomery said in an interview yesterday.
Even though he was estranged from his wife and was suffering from depression, Betty Montgomery said, her son was showing signs of improvement. He had taken a job as an apprentice electrician in Upper Marlboro and played bagpipes with a group in Southern Maryland. He seemed to revel in the company of his younger brother, Byron, 11, and spent hours downloading music onto his computer, she said.
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The night before Philip Montgomery died, "he seemed fine," Betty Montgomery said. "He bought groceries; he played computer games -- he was a whiz at computers."
Since then, she said, she has tried to piece together the final hours of her son's life through crime reports, conversations with police investigators and the assistance of Angelo Castelli, an attorney hired by her daughter-in-law for a possible lawsuit against the county.
Montgomery said she has learned from Anne Arundel police investigators that Philip Montgomery may have first been spotted Dec. 15 at a Calvert County library. A librarian contacted police investigators and said that Philip Montgomery had been there and looked either drunk or mentally ill, Castelli said.
About 3 p.m., an off-duty D.C. police officer saw Montgomery's 1996 Chevy swerve off Route 4 near the border of Calvert and Anne Arundel counties, police have said. The D.C. officer contacted Anne Arundel police, who arrested Montgomery. Police called Betty Montgomery, who says she told officers in calls at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. that her son was off his depression medication.
Betty Montgomery said she did not hear from police again until 2:30 a.m., when she was awakened by knocking at her door. When officers told her Philip was dead, she collapsed on the floor.
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