Man with long criminal history dies at detox center

 7 comment(s)  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

BY LISA MUNGER / Lincoln Journal Star

A 47-year-old Lincoln man who struggled with alcoholism and had been arrested hundreds of times in the past couple of decades died at a local detoxification center Wednesday, according to Lincoln Police. 

“I hope I can stay sober,” Leland “Lonnie” Miller said in a 2002 interview with the Journal Star. “If I stay here long enough, get a house and my (identity) again...”

Police Capt. Dennis Duckworth said an employee at Cornhusker Place Inc. checked on Miller at 5 a.m. Wednesday. When she checked on him again an hour later, he was unresponsive, Duckworth said.

[+]Enlarge

Leland "Lonnie" Miller

Leland "Lonnie" Miller

The cause of Miller’s death has not been released, but police said he died at the detox center.

Duckworth said police picked Miller up May 9 for consuming alcohol in public, then booked him into protective custody. He was not certain whether Miller was taken to Cornhusker Place at that time.

Phil Tegeler, executive director of Cornhusker Place, was unsure when Miller was last admitted to the center.

“I don't have the information in front of me,” he said from his home Saturday.

When someone dies in protective custody, state law requires a grand jury investigation to examine the circumstances of death, as would occur if an inmate died in jail, Tegeler said.

Duckworth said an autopsy was conducted last week. Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly did not return a call for comment.

In 2002, Police Chief Tom Casady said Miller was among a group of people who had been arrested or cited by Lincoln police more than 100 times since 1981. Miller was at 256 at the time.

Lincoln Police Officer Charlie Marti said he’d had contact with Miller many times over the years.

“The last time I saw him, he had frostbite on his hands from staying outside, but was doing OK,” said Marti, who patrols the downtown business district on bicycle.

He said Miller had a hard time staying sober, but he’d had some success in the past five years.

Pastor Tom Barber said Miller was a frequent guest at the People's City Mission.

“He was in and out of the mission; he didn't cause trouble,” said Barber, who is executive director of the mission. “He told us he'd been on his own, on the street, since he was 12 years old.”

Marti said he’d heard Miller talk about his childhood, too.

“Somewhere, someone dropped the ball and never picked it up,” he said.

Barber said one of the biggest challenges people like Lonnie Miller face is losing hope.

“You hear some people say, ‘Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.’ Our people don't have boots.”

Reach Lisa Munger at lmunger@journalstar.com.