A 46-year-old Man Becomes 7th to Die in Oklahoma County Jail in 2017
In early July 2017, 46-year-old Nhan Thang Nguyen was sentenced to ten years of prison and ten years of probation, after pleading guilty to an alleged shooting that occurred in 2004. Nguyen had been “on the run” for more than 12 years, after the incident outside an Oklahoma City Asian food restaurant for which he was charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon and intent to kill. Two days after the sentencing of Nguyen, he was discovered hanging in his cell in the Oklahoma County Jail. It was later reported that he died, and the apparent cause was suicide. Nguyen is the seventh person to die in the Oklahoma County Jail in 2017. The sheer number of fatalities at the jail has created public alarm.
When the sixth person died in the Oklahoma County Jail this year, it was pointed out that the death toll in the facility was higher than for the entire year of 2015. In addition, by that time, some among the first five fatalities had already been the subject of legal proceedings against the county. Fifty-nine-year-old Larry Prather – who, like Nguyen, is also from Oklahoma City – is believed to have died in the county jail as a result of natural causes related to diabetes. Prather, who died in early June, had been jailed since February 2017 on various charges, allegedly including assault on a police officer, two counts of domestic assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of drug paraphernalia, and marijuana possession.
One of the county jail fatalities that has resulted in a lawsuit against Oklahoma County is related to the April 19 death of Charlton Cash Chrisman, who was 40 years old. An autopsy found that the cause of his death was acute methamphetamine intoxication leading to agitated delirium. A contributing factor, according to the autopsy, was alleged multiple hits from pepper balls, which were fired by detention officers. The mother of the deceased alleges that police used excessive force and were negligent, with regards to her son.
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