Want to See Police Kill a Drunk in Custody?
Well, I'm sure you don't. I didn't either. But video has been released of the incident in which a very drunk David Dehmann, a 33-year-old autistic man, is slammed to the ground by Deputy Chase Wright in Mount Vernon, Ohio, hard enough to cause a head trauma injury that killed him two days later.
The Columbus Dispatch on how it got to that point:
David Levi Dehmann had been arrested at 7:43 p.m. Tuesday by Mount Vernon police Cpl. Travis Tharp, who had been sent to the ball fields at Dan Emmett Elementary School after a call about a suspected drunken man who had fallen down by the restrooms.
Tharp arrested Dehmann on a charge of persistent disorderly conduct and took him to the Knox County Jail to be booked
So, so many dumb reasons to end up in custody in these United States. Maybe they could have even let him sleep it off--he was not at that moment directly harming anyone's life or property. But they took him to jail. Dehmann has been on a bender all day, and in fact had earlier been found vomiting on someone's patio and taken to the hospital, then released, and driven to an aunt's house by an officer, then later found on the ball field. He had likely already hurt his own head in his earlier drunken fit.
After a series of what very much look like drunk-friendly gestures, Deputy Wright grabs his hand violently. Alas, the specifics of every last step are tantalizingly on the border of the camera view. Dehmann's arm comes swinging back in, in a motion the police and some media interpret as trying to punch the cop; maybe, maybe not. If so, it was for sure a swing and a miss. Then he was slammed to the ground with enough violence to cause his death.
Original police statement about the incident, which is now being investigated by the state attorney general. Wright is on the usual administrative leave:
While Dehmann was in the jail's intake area he became aggressive with the jail staff making an aggressive move towards Deputy [Chase] Wright. Mr. Dehmann did attempt to hit Dep. Wright in the face causing Dep. Wright to place Mr. Dehmann into a take down hold, taking him to the ground to get control of him. Once control was gained it was found that Mr. Dehmann had hit his head on the floor during the incident. Mr. Dehmann was transported to KCH ER by Mount Vernon medics for a medical evaluation."
Here's the video. Start around 5 minutes in for the hideous climax.
Hat tip: Free Thought Project.
