A hero who did not obey social conventions. This is how Carlos Robson Gracie defines his son, Ryan Gracie, found dead the Saturday before last in a cell at the 91st DP, in São Paulo, after being arrested for robbery and medicated with a cocktail of six medications by psychiatrist Sabino Ferreira Neto. In an exclusive interview with JB, given shortly after Ryan's 7th day mass, on Friday, Robson blames the doctor, whom he makes harsh accusations, for the death, defends his son from the reputation of being a brawler and shows regret for the excessive rigor with which he tried to educate the child.
What determined your son's death?
The drugs injected into him. Of that I have not the slightest doubt. A doctor gave me a technical explanation that that type of drug makes the tongue grow and dilate. If the person is not assisted, the tongue does not let you breathe and you do not react. That was precisely our fear. That Ryan would be left without assistance in a regular prison, with panic syndrome and having taken that amount of medication. Why did we hire that 'beast'? So he wouldn't leave Ryan trapped without assistance. You know the police stations. Where there are 20, there are 70. We wanted him to tell the police chief that Ryan would have to be taken to the hospital or even to the judicial asylum. But, according to my daughter (Flávia Gracie), he wanted to leave there hugging Ryan, so that the press would see that he was with a celebrity. And he gave injections, gave this, gave that, until she asked: “Doctor, isn’t it a lot?” He said, “Are you a doctor? So don’t get involved.” She insisted: “But isn’t it dangerous?” And he replied: “Even taking aspirin is dangerous.” His words.
You refer to Dr. Sabino…
To call an immoral centipede like that a doctor is harsh. A doctor is the one who takes the oath to save people, help others. I don't call that Doctor. That's a walking sewer.
When Ryan arrived at the police station, toxicological tests were carried out which detected the consumption of cocaine, crack and marijuana. Even so, he was not taken to the hospital, as is customary. What do you think about this?
The doctor came to my daughter-in-law and said she would have to give money to the police. So much for the police chief, so much for the jailer and so much for the beltran. Lie. They didn't ask for anything. On the contrary. They were even kind, with the exception of one shameless one who had a problem with Ryan. According to my daughter, the police behaved correctly. Ryan was left there because Dr. Sabino left him. If he had said that Ryan wasn't supposed to stay there, he wouldn't have stayed. Doesn't the guy who gets shot on the hill go to the hospital?
Dr. Sabino says that the suggestion to pay the police officers was given by a member of his family. What actually happened?
When the problem arose, Flávia was afraid that he would be trapped and decided to call a doctor to admit him. He was the one who suggested the payment. Our family had no reason to. So much so that he gave R$100 to the prison guard and now says it was to buy a pizza if Ryan felt hungry. Have you ever seen a doctor charge a patient at 5 am? He knew he was going to be hit and he started to defend himself. He wants to show that Ryan was on drugs. Things got so bad that an MP prosecutor went to the IML to watch the autopsy. My ex-son-in-law, Maurício Mattar, called me and said that if he knew that we had called Dr. Sabino, he would beg us to send him away. He said the doctor tried to forcefully admit him, but he didn't let him leave. The person who got him out of there was the press officer, along with his mother, to whom Maurício sent a message through a patient who had been discharged. And what about Thumb's boy, Rafael Ilha? Need another testimonial? He says he was happy at the clinic because he went out to buy cocaine with the Doctor, took it there, snorted and burned crack, and no one arrested him. The doctor has already had his CRM revoked.
What were Ryan's childhood and adolescence like?
Ryan was a person who, I now see, was a little ahead of his time. For the sake of civility, we have to be kind, polite, have good behavior, when, sometimes, we feel like killing a doctor like that – excuse the term – with a beating, to take extreme measures. Ryan had a very short fuse for these things. But look at the number of friends who came to mass on the 7th day. You needed to see how the mass was going in São Paulo and the commotion at the funeral, where there were more than two thousand people. That was his short fuse. You messed with me, it's done. What he didn't have was this socially accepted behavior. For him, it's bad, it's bad; It's good, it's good. He was very respected and loved, and hated by scoundrels and enemies. I'm seeing this now because, with the life we have, we can't stretch out for long. He didn't have a difficult temper. He was the sweetest figure I have ever seen. He had girlfriends and this last passion, Andréia, who is a fantastic woman. She says Ryan is the love of her life. Is this guy an aggressive monster? No. It often happened that he went into a nightclub and, because they knew he was a fighter, they started teasing him after drinking. Then, it was definitely confusion.
How and when did you realize he had panic syndrome?
The Saturday before his death, he was in Rio, on his son's birthday, and this thing happened. I was there and when I went to look for him, he had left in his mother's car. He went to a restaurant to meet his friends and said: “Take care of my son, they came to get me.” And he ran away in the car, crashed it and left for São Paulo. I didn't see him anymore.
So, did you notice last week?
No. He already had the problem before. We took him to a psychologist, but he was rebellious and didn't want treatment.
Why didn't he accept treatment?
Who knows about his mental problems? Whatnot.
How had the syndrome been affecting his daily life?
He was not in his normal state. He was trying really hard to control himself. He never came to me to complain. He was very reserved with me, because he knew I demanded from him. Today, I see that I didn't do it well. He knew our intolerance towards attitudes that deviated from our family's standard of behavior.
What is the standard?
We do not tolerate abuse, cowardice, lack of generosity, much less people taking drugs. There is no justification and no reason. I'll keep thinking like this.
Did you know he used drugs?
No. Sometimes they said: “He’s really crazy.” But nothing specifically about drugs.
You claim Ryan is a hero. Why?
People in the family have this behavior when it comes to fighting. Ryan was a fighter at all times, not just in the ring. He couldn't see cowardice. A friend of his told me recently that he met Ryan when he was being beaten by a gang in a shopping mall. Against all odds of success, he got involved and defended himself. That's why this church was full. He was supportive. That was my hero. We said that to fight he would have to train because the opponent was very strong, but there was no talk with him. He said, “Tomorrow I’m ready.” And we knew it wasn't.
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