Suit: W.Va. Police Chief Denied Gay Man CPR

[Duncan Grant]

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. Mar 3, 2006 (AP)— A small-town police chief was accused in a federal lawsuit Thursday of stopping a would-be rescuer from performing CPR on a gay heart attack victim because he assumed the ailing man had HIV and posed a health risk.

Claude Green, 43, died June 21 after being stricken yards from City Hall in Welch, a community of about 2,400. The American Civil Liberties Union sued on behalf of his mother.

Police Chief Bobby Bowman called the allegations "a boldface lie." He said that he called an ambulance and that Green was taken to the hospital in "no more than nine minutes."

"No one refused him CPR as his sister and mom are saying. They can do what they want, but if they're saying I refused him CPR, that is no way true," Bowman said.
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http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1682397