Missouri
Family releases video showing final moments before Black inmate’s death
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man who died after he was placed in a spit hood and restrained in a Missouri prison was motionless for nearly 10 minutes before a nurse checked on him, prison video released Tuesday shows.
Video of the final the moments before Othel Moore’s December 2023 death shows the Black 38-year-old heaving with a mask covering his face, hands restrained behind his back and legs bound together as a guard watches from outside the cell.
Four former staffers at the Jefferson City Correctional Center have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. Charges against a fifth were dropped, Department of Corrections spokesperson Karen Pojmann said.
A criminal complaint alleges that guards pepper-sprayed Moore, placed a mask over his face and left him in a position that caused him to suffocate.
Moore’s mother and sister separately filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Surveillance video provided by Moore family lawyers shows a number of incarcerated men stripped down to their boxers with their hands restrained behind their backs as guards filter through cells and belongings on Dec. 8, 2023, the day Moore died.
While standing handcuffed just outside his cell door, a guard pepper-sprayed Moore, according to Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson’s office.
Video released by Moore’s family then shows him being led away from the other incarcerated men. Guards held his arms as he went down to his knees and eventually lay face down on the floor.
Guards then bound his legs together and put a mask over his face before strapping him into a cart in a reclined position, the video shows.
As he was restrained, the video shows Moore swayed back and forth but did not appear to struggle with guards.
Guards told investigators that Moore was not following orders to be quiet and that he spit at them, although witnesses said Moore was spitting pepper spray out of his mouth.
Video shows guards then wheeled Moore to a locked cell, where he initially attempted to push himself to a more upright position before falling back into the reclined headrest.
His movements gradually slowed for about 20 minutes until he lay motionless, his head slumped to one side.
A nurse arrived about 10 minutes after Moore went motionless, calmly checked his pulse and moved his limp head. The nurse and another staffer briefly applied rapid compressions to his upper body before he was wheeled out of the cell.
The Moore family’s attorney, Andrew M. Stroth, said in a Tuesday news conference that prison staff acted with “no sense of urgency.”
In a separate statement, Stroth said the video highlights “the complete disregard for the sanctity of life, deliberate indifference and failure to provide emergency medical care to Othel by the medical staff.”
Ten staffers and contractor employees were fired in response to Moore’s death.
“We have taken and will continue to take steps necessary to mitigate safety risks to everyone in our facilities,” said a June statement from the department after criminal charges were filed against several former staffers.
Pojmann in a Tuesday email said body cameras are now used at all of the state’s maximum-security facilities.
Three of the former staffers charged with second-degree murder in Moore’s death have scheduled court appearances in January. A fourth faces trial Dec. 11.
Arizona
Man suffered burns when held down by officers during triple-degree heat
A man suffered third-degree burns this summer when Phoenix police officers held him down on pavement for four minutes on a day of triple-degree heat.
ABC15 Arizona reported Tuesday that Michael Kenyon spent more than a month hospitalized with “unbearable pain” from burns on his face, arms, chest and legs after the July 6 encounter with officers in a parking lot. That day, the high temperature reached 114 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius).
Kenyon told the station that he believes officers stopped him because his roommate had recently reported a theft from their home, which is across the street from where the encounter occurred.
Phoenix police said although Kenyon matched the description of the suspect, he ultimately was determined not to be a suspect. The agency said it is conducting criminal and internal investigations.
At the time, Kenyon had an outstanding warrant for failing to appear on a drug charge. He said he didn’t know about the warrant, and the department confirmed officers also didn’t know about it at the time.
Surveillance video showed Kenyon walking in the parking lot and getting stopped and questioned by officers, who tried to detain him. Police say Kenyon was taken to the ground by officers after a struggle.
“This young man was burned to the third degree because his skin was cooked on asphalt,” said Bobby DiCello, one of Kenyon’s attorneys.
Scores of people are hospitalized with surface burns every summer in Phoenix, where sizzling sidewalks pose a painful danger to people as air temperatures soar into the triple digits.
Young children, older adults and homeless people are especially at risk for contact burns, which can occur within seconds when skin touches a surface of 180 degrees Fahrenheit (82 C). Contact burns typically occur by accident, often when a person trips and falls, or suffers heat stroke and collapses on the pavement.
This isn’t the first time a person has alleged to have suffered burns when being detained on hot pavement by Phoenix police officers.
A 2020 lawsuit alleged a 17-year-old girl suffered second-degree burns on her arms when Phoenix police officers pinned her on a sidewalk on a day when temperatures reached 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius).
The suit alleged the teen’s skin peeled off her body when officers removed her from the sidewalk, an allegation denied in court papers by lawyers representing the police department. The lawsuit was dismissed in April 2022.
This year, the Phoenix Police Department was accused by the U.S. Justice Department of discriminating against Black, Latino and Native American people, unlawfully detaining homeless people and using excessive force, including unjustified deadly force.
The city has said it is committed to reforms in its police department but has resisted efforts to enter a consent decree with the Justice Department.
Earlier this month, Phoenix police officers were criticized after video footage was broadcast of officers repeatedly punching and shocking a deaf Black man with a Taser during an Aug. 19 encounter in a parking lot.
Resisting arrest and aggravated assault charges filed against the man were later dismissed.
Family releases video showing final moments before Black inmate’s death
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man who died after he was placed in a spit hood and restrained in a Missouri prison was motionless for nearly 10 minutes before a nurse checked on him, prison video released Tuesday shows.
Video of the final the moments before Othel Moore’s December 2023 death shows the Black 38-year-old heaving with a mask covering his face, hands restrained behind his back and legs bound together as a guard watches from outside the cell.
Four former staffers at the Jefferson City Correctional Center have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. Charges against a fifth were dropped, Department of Corrections spokesperson Karen Pojmann said.
A criminal complaint alleges that guards pepper-sprayed Moore, placed a mask over his face and left him in a position that caused him to suffocate.
Moore’s mother and sister separately filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Surveillance video provided by Moore family lawyers shows a number of incarcerated men stripped down to their boxers with their hands restrained behind their backs as guards filter through cells and belongings on Dec. 8, 2023, the day Moore died.
While standing handcuffed just outside his cell door, a guard pepper-sprayed Moore, according to Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson’s office.
Video released by Moore’s family then shows him being led away from the other incarcerated men. Guards held his arms as he went down to his knees and eventually lay face down on the floor.
Guards then bound his legs together and put a mask over his face before strapping him into a cart in a reclined position, the video shows.
As he was restrained, the video shows Moore swayed back and forth but did not appear to struggle with guards.
Guards told investigators that Moore was not following orders to be quiet and that he spit at them, although witnesses said Moore was spitting pepper spray out of his mouth.
Video shows guards then wheeled Moore to a locked cell, where he initially attempted to push himself to a more upright position before falling back into the reclined headrest.
His movements gradually slowed for about 20 minutes until he lay motionless, his head slumped to one side.
A nurse arrived about 10 minutes after Moore went motionless, calmly checked his pulse and moved his limp head. The nurse and another staffer briefly applied rapid compressions to his upper body before he was wheeled out of the cell.
The Moore family’s attorney, Andrew M. Stroth, said in a Tuesday news conference that prison staff acted with “no sense of urgency.”
In a separate statement, Stroth said the video highlights “the complete disregard for the sanctity of life, deliberate indifference and failure to provide emergency medical care to Othel by the medical staff.”
Ten staffers and contractor employees were fired in response to Moore’s death.
“We have taken and will continue to take steps necessary to mitigate safety risks to everyone in our facilities,” said a June statement from the department after criminal charges were filed against several former staffers.
Pojmann in a Tuesday email said body cameras are now used at all of the state’s maximum-security facilities.
Three of the former staffers charged with second-degree murder in Moore’s death have scheduled court appearances in January. A fourth faces trial Dec. 11.
Arizona
Man suffered burns when held down by officers during triple-degree heat
A man suffered third-degree burns this summer when Phoenix police officers held him down on pavement for four minutes on a day of triple-degree heat.
ABC15 Arizona reported Tuesday that Michael Kenyon spent more than a month hospitalized with “unbearable pain” from burns on his face, arms, chest and legs after the July 6 encounter with officers in a parking lot. That day, the high temperature reached 114 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius).
Kenyon told the station that he believes officers stopped him because his roommate had recently reported a theft from their home, which is across the street from where the encounter occurred.
Phoenix police said although Kenyon matched the description of the suspect, he ultimately was determined not to be a suspect. The agency said it is conducting criminal and internal investigations.
At the time, Kenyon had an outstanding warrant for failing to appear on a drug charge. He said he didn’t know about the warrant, and the department confirmed officers also didn’t know about it at the time.
Surveillance video showed Kenyon walking in the parking lot and getting stopped and questioned by officers, who tried to detain him. Police say Kenyon was taken to the ground by officers after a struggle.
“This young man was burned to the third degree because his skin was cooked on asphalt,” said Bobby DiCello, one of Kenyon’s attorneys.
Scores of people are hospitalized with surface burns every summer in Phoenix, where sizzling sidewalks pose a painful danger to people as air temperatures soar into the triple digits.
Young children, older adults and homeless people are especially at risk for contact burns, which can occur within seconds when skin touches a surface of 180 degrees Fahrenheit (82 C). Contact burns typically occur by accident, often when a person trips and falls, or suffers heat stroke and collapses on the pavement.
This isn’t the first time a person has alleged to have suffered burns when being detained on hot pavement by Phoenix police officers.
A 2020 lawsuit alleged a 17-year-old girl suffered second-degree burns on her arms when Phoenix police officers pinned her on a sidewalk on a day when temperatures reached 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius).
The suit alleged the teen’s skin peeled off her body when officers removed her from the sidewalk, an allegation denied in court papers by lawyers representing the police department. The lawsuit was dismissed in April 2022.
This year, the Phoenix Police Department was accused by the U.S. Justice Department of discriminating against Black, Latino and Native American people, unlawfully detaining homeless people and using excessive force, including unjustified deadly force.
The city has said it is committed to reforms in its police department but has resisted efforts to enter a consent decree with the Justice Department.
Earlier this month, Phoenix police officers were criticized after video footage was broadcast of officers repeatedly punching and shocking a deaf Black man with a Taser during an Aug. 19 encounter in a parking lot.
Resisting arrest and aggravated assault charges filed against the man were later dismissed.
