Georgia sheriff sued for death of restrained jail detainee
Source: Associated Press
Georgia sheriff sued for death of restrained jail detainee
Russ Bynum, Associated Press
Updated 3:52 pm, Wednesday, March 30, 2016
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) A Georgia sheriff has been sued by the family of a 21-year-old Savannah man who died in a jail cell last year after a brawl with deputies who ended up strapping him into a restraint chair before shocking him four times with a Taser.
The parents of Mathew Ajibade filed a civil lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court against Chatham County Sheriff Roy Harris and others who worked under him at the county jail. Also named as defendants were Corizon Health Inc., the jail's contractor for medical services, as well as a nurse and 12 deputies who were on duty at the time of Ajibade's death.
Ajibade died hours after he was arrested on Jan. 1, 2015, following a fight with his girlfriend. Attorneys for his family say Ajibade was having a manic episode, after failing to take his medication for bipolar disorder, when he got into a bloody brawl with deputies trying to book him at the jail.
A criminal trial against two deputies and a jail nurse last year revealed that Ajibade was carried to a cell and strapped into a restraint chair after the fight, and deputies placed a mask over his face to prevent him from spitting. While he was restrained, a deputy used a Taser to shock Ajibade four times. He was still strapped to the chair when a jailer later found him dead.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Georgia-sheriff-sued-for-death-of-restrained-jail-7217386.php
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Mathew Ajibade [/center]