The family of a 25-year-old man is requesting that the staff members involved in an incident that resulted in his death while in custody at an Ohio jail in March be charged with murder.
Ten Montgomery County Jail employees have been placed on paid administrative leave after the coroner ruled Christian Black’s death a homicide, Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck said in a statement.
Black was arrested and booked into the Montgomery County Jail on March 23, according to Ryan Julison, a spokesperson for the law firm that represents his family.
The next day, jail employees stepped in after Black began “forcefully and repeatedly striking his head against the door of his cell,” according to Streck.
The family’s lawyers presented security camera footage from a news conference on Monday, which shows officers standing outside a cell as Black repeatedly punches the door. He appears to forcefully bang his head against the door at least four times.
“We’ll acknowledge at this point you can see in the video Christian’s having a crisis and we’ll recognize that law enforcement does have to go in there and find a way to keep him from harming himself,” said Robert Gresham, the attorney representing the accused.
“But our issue begins when they go into that particular cell, and they ultimately make a number of errors and decisions that amount to what we believe to be deliberate indifference and unlawful use of force.”
A request for comment on the allegations of deliberate indifference and unlawful use of force was not immediately responded to Monday night by the sheriff’s office.
The video shows five officers entering the cell and fighting with Black. Gresham claimed that officers pepper-sprayed him and shocked him with a stun gun inside his cell. The video shown at the news conference, however, does not clearly demonstrate this.
Officers take Black out of the cell, pin him to the ground, and then handcuff him with his hands behind his back before placing him in a safety restraint chair.
The struggle continues on the chair, with officers putting on an anti-spit mask and pushing Black’s torso forward in an apparent attempt to remove the handcuffs and restrain his arms on the chair, according to the video.
“You can see by the pressure officers are putting on him, my understanding is that’s going to make it almost impossible for him to breathe,” Gresham told reporters.
The video shows Black’s body going limp as officers raise his torso and strap his arms to the chair.
Attorney Michael Wright stated, “He’s dead at this point.”
—————Christian Black’s parents, Misti Black, left, and Kenya Black, right, listen to their attorney Michael Wright in Dayton, Ohio, on Monday.WDTN
According to Sheriff Streck, Black lost consciousness while sitting in the chair. Streck said that medical personnel performed CPR on him before transporting him to the hospital.
Two days later, on March 26, Black was declared dead.
According to the videos of the interaction shown by his family’s attorneys, ten officers were involved at various points between entering the cell and eventually restraining Black to the chair.
According to a coroner’s report, Chief Deputy Coroner Sean Swiatkowski determined that the cause of death was most likely “mechanical and positional asphyxia” and that the manner of death was homicide, Streck said.
According to Gresham, Black was in the facility’s mental health area. Wright added that staff members did not attempt life-saving measures until 13 minutes after entering the cell.
A request for comment on the claim was not immediately responded to Monday night by the sheriff’s office.
“These officers failed to perform their duties here. They know better. “They should do better,” Gresham stated. “We don’t think any further than George Floyd to know how positional asphyxiation works.”
Christian’s mother, Misti Black, said the incident should never have occurred.
“Now, every time I see the video, it’s knowing that I’m going to see him take his last breath,” she recalled.
Streck stated that after learning of the most likely cause of death, he placed all ten employees involved in the incident on paid administrative leave.
“Because Mr. Black was in critical condition and physical force was used to restrain him, I requested that the Dayton Police Department respond to investigate the incident and submit their findings to prosecutors for review,” Dr. Streck said. “This leave is a procedural step and does not imply guilt, misconduct, or policy violations.”
Dayton police confirmed that detectives are looking into the “use of force incident.”
“Detectives assigned to the Homicide Unit are actively investigating this incident involving the death of Christian Black and at the conclusion of the investigation will present the case to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office,” a statement from the police spokesperson, James Rider, said.
The Black family’s attorneys are also conducting an independent investigation, and Wright stated that they want the ten staff members arrested, indicted, and convicted for “the murder of Christian Black.”
Streck stated that the sheriff’s office will “fully cooperate with all independent investigations” and that “once the criminal investigations are complete, there will be a thorough internal review and investigation to ensure accountability and transparency.”
