Brickbat: Prison Medicine
Wyandotte County, Kansas, deputy Richard Fatherley has been charged second degree murder and involuntarily manslaughter after inmate Charles Adair died in custody on July 5, just a day after jailers arrested him on misdemeanor warrants for failing to appear in court on multiple traffic violations. Adair, who suffered from heart disease and liver cirrhosis, clashed with staff as they removed him from his wheelchair in the detention center's infirmary. One officer knelt on Adair's back in a shoulder pin maneuver, breaking his ribs and sternum. Those injuries caused "mechanical asphyxia," blocking his breathing and causing his death, which his autopsy ruled a homicide. Prosecutors declined to say whether it was Fatherley who pinned Adair, but he is the only officer who will be charged.
