Two South Carolina deputies have been fired for how they treated a black inmate who later died.
Sgt. Lindsay Fickett and Detention Deputy Brian Houle were fired on Monday, more than four months after they pepper-sprayed and used a Taser on Jamal Sutherland, who died on Jan. 5. The deputies, Fickett, who had been with the force since March 2011, and Houle, since July 2016, were reassigned to desk duty prior to the decision.
“Today, I made the decision to terminate the two detention deputies involved in this case,” Sheriff Kristin Graziano said on Twitter. “I must weigh the interest of public safety for the community against any incident that creates even the perception of an impairment to the operation of the Detention Center for the safety of all residents, staff and our Community.”
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The deadly incident occurred when deputies tried to take Sutherland, 31, from his cell at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center, the county jail, to court for a bond hearing. He ignored repeated commands from within his cell.
The officers used pepper spray twice, according to the New York Times, citing the body camera footage that was released last Thursday. Houle said they used a Taser six to eight times on Sutherland.
Sutherland was writhing on the ground after the deputies used the Taser when an officer started using a knee to pin Sutherland to the ground by placing it on his lower back, according to the footage. One of Sutherland’s hands had been handcuffed, but the other wasn’t at the time. The officer can be seen grabbing Sutherland’s cuffed hand out from under his body and cuffing the other wrist as he is sitting on him.
The officers dragged Sutherland out of the cell, where an officer sat on his back again.
A day before his death, Sutherland was taken to a mental health facility, where he was arrested after a fight broke out. Facility members said he assaulted a staff member. He was accused of third-degree assault and battery, a misdemeanor, and taken to jail, according to the Post & Courier.
The coroner’s report attributed his death to an “excited state” with adverse effects of prescription medications given to him by the deputies who were trying to subdue him, though it remains under investigation.
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Sutherland suffered from mental illnesses, having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia as a teenager.
“Mental illness doesn’t give anybody the right to put their hands on my child. That’s my child. I loved my child,” Amy Sutherland, the mother of Jamal Sutherland, said at a press conference last Friday. “Remember, he is a human being. He is not an animal.”
Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said she believes prosecutors will determine whether or not to charge the officers involved by the end of next month.
