“There is insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights charges,” the announcement said.
Derrick Foward, president of Dayton unit of the NAACP, said the civil rights organization, which called for an independent federal investigation by the FBI, supported the decision. “When we called for the investigation, we also said we would support their decision. We feel saddened for his (English) family.”
Rachel Shaw, English’s mother said Friday she would not comment, referring a reporter to the family’s attorney who has filed a lawsuit against the city and a local hospital.
The attorney, James Greene III, said he was dismayed with the Justice Department’s conclusion. “There is an abysmal failure to do a sufficient examination,” he said, saying a medical expert hired by the family to review the coroner’s findings found no evidence that indicated English used his head or arms to break out the cruiser’s window.
“I’m pleased the Justice Department found our policies and procedures were never violated, not Mr. English’s civil rights,” Sheriff Phil Plummer said Friday evening.
“We thought an independent, outside investigation was important,” City Manager Tim Riordan said. “Our goal now is to move forward … to strengthen community-police relations and to create an environment that promotes safety, fairness and respect for all.”
A police officer was transporting English, 20, from Grandview Hospital to the Montgomery County Jail following an evaluation. As the cruiser turned onto the Salem Avenue bridge, police said the 6-foot, 210-pound English, seated unbelted in the back of the cruiser with his hands handcuffed behind his back, broke out the passenger-side window with his head, rolled out the window as the cruiser stopped and leaped over the bridge railing.
Seconds before breaking out the window, English is heard on the police cruiser’s audio-tape asking the officer, “Do you believe you go to heaven if you kill yourself?” and then “I want to die.”
The federal investigation is the third to conclude the death a suicide. A police investigation and a Montgomery County Coroner’s investigation came to the same conclusion. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office conducted an investigation, finding no fault with the deputies’ actions while English was at the jail.
English had been arrested earlier in the day after he allegedly attempted to kick down the door of a relative of his girlfriend, who was in a back bedroom. Security video from the apartment hallway shows an enraged English kicking the door and screaming. After his arrest several blocks from the scene, English was taken to the jail.
Grainy, stop-action security video from the jail , showed English and the officer walking to the jail intake. While the officer was filling out the booking slip, English stood facing the cinderblock wall. The next frame, 3 seconds later, showed English slumped on the floor.
Police said English had slammed his head into the wall. With the help of deputies, the officer rushed English into a “shake down” room where he was checked by jail medical staff. The staff refused to accept English because his pupils were not responding properly to light, indicating a possible head injury. The officer then placed English back in his cruiser and took him to Grandview where he was evaluated and medically cleared.
During his trip from the hospital, the officer turned on his in-car audio and the forward-facing video system, telling English he was being recorded. After English’s last statement that he wanted to die, the audio picked up several bangs — English apparently using his head to hit the right-rear passenger window. As the office pulled over to the side of the bridge and stopped the cruiser, the video showed shards of safety glass falling on the cruiser’s hood. The officer is heard shouting as he sees English launch himself out the window and over the bridge railing.
Some members of the family initially told police and the Dayton Daily News that English suffered from depression and “self-harming behavior.” Family members later denied making the statements.
Other family members alleged police had Tased and beaten English. Neither the videotapes, audiotapes, the police investigation, the sheriff’s investigation, the coroner’s autopsy nor the Justice Department investigation found any evidence to support those allegations.
Greene, the family’s attorney, said their medical expert concluded English died from the fall from the bridge.
In their lawsuit, the family alleges both the hospital and the police were negligent. Greene said Friday police had a duty to keep English safe while in their custody, a duty they failed.
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