Man sues Cape Coral police over wife’s death, says wellness check wasn’t done properly

A man has filed a lawsuit against the Cape Coral Police Department because he says an officer didn’t do a wellness check properly.

Calvin Cotner was in California and hadn’t heard from his wife in Cape Coral. He called for a wellness check, and the officer said there were no signs of distress and left. Cotner says his wife was found dead the next day.

Cotner says he isn’t filing this lawsuit for the money. Instead, he wants to force Cape Coral police to create a wellness check policy because the department doesn’t have one.

Cotner believes his wife would be alive today if the officer had just broken down the door to his home as he asked.

Calvin and Rae Cotner were married for nearly 30 years. Many of those years they spent traveling and enjoying every moment together.

“You realize that life is too short,” said Cotner.

In December 2020, Calvin traveled to California alone to visit family and feared the worst when Rae didn’t pick up the phone.

“I couldn’t get a hold of her. I tried all day,” said Cotner.

Calvin did what so many people do in this situation; he called the police and asked them to do a welfare check. Calvin said Rae was taking several pain medications and worried to she took too much or got confused.

When a cape coral police officer got to his house, “He could see her inside and that she was breathing she was in bed. I told him to break down the door. Go in and check on her because it’s not like her to not answer the phone all day long. He says I can’t do that,” said Cotner.

The following day, when officers returned, Rae Cotner was dead.

A year and a half later, just thinking about Rae’s death still gets to Calvin. “What they did was wrong but what they didn’t do was wrong,” said Cotner.

Now, Calvin is suing Cape Coral Police.

In the officer’s notes from that night, he wrote, “We can see her in bed breathing but she isn’t waking to answer the phone or door… no signs of distress. Breathing appears normal.”

Cotner’s attorney, Michael Beckman, argues at the very least, the officer should’ve called EMS to make that medical determination.

“The main cause out of the natural causes was cardiorespiratory so, which means that event could’ve been happening there right there and then it could’ve been rapid breathing, but nobody was called EMS wasn’t called to make that determination,” said Beckman.

David Thomas, a law enforcement expert at FGCU, agrees. “If a homeowner gives you permission, then that’s all you need. And so but based on the preponderance of evidence, and by that, I mean, she was nonresponsive, although she was breathing, she was still nonresponsive. I would suspect that they rang doorbells, that beat on doors, they beat on Windows, the phone was ringing, and there’s no response. So how many times does EMS or law enforcement go to a call where a person is nonresponsive, and they end up being transported? Why is this any different only because it’s behind a locked door? But you have that permission? No. I think that they’re hung up on the exigent circumstances, rather than looking at the totality of the circumstances,” said Thomas.

“What they did was wrong. I don’t care if I get a dime,” said Cotner.

Cotner believes if the officer had entered his home or called EMS, things would have been different. “If she had overdosed, if she had passed out, they could’ve taken her to the hospital and done something,” said Cotner. “That’s what makes me so angry.”

While working on this story, WINK News learned most police departments do not have a welfare check policy. One expert said they can’t have a policy for everything.

WINK News asked Cape Coral police for comment on the lawsuit, but the department had no comment.