Larry David Hurt Dies After Being in Harrison County, Texas Jail
The Harrison County Sheriff’s Department apparently has pending a custodial death report regarding the death of Larry David Hurt. Our Texas law firm found out about Mr. Hurt’s death as a result of the Harrison County jail, in Marshall, Texas, failing a Texas Commission on Jail Standards (“TCJS”) inspection in June 2021. We posted at this website about that inspection report –
Unfortunately, the Harrison County jail had not filed a custodial death report regarding Mr. Hurt’s death within the 30 days required by Texas law. We obtained a copy of that custodial death report through a Public Information Act request, and we provide in this post some information contained in that report.
The report indicates that the date and time of the custody or incident was 1:17 p.m. on March 1, 2021, and that Mr. Hurt passed away at 5:28 p.m. on March 1, 2021. The listed manner of death indicates that autopsy results were pending.
The single offense listed for which Mr. Hurt might have been charged was Disorderly Conduct. The summary portion of the report reads in its entirety:
“Harrison County Deputies responded to a residence in Harrison County regarding family violence/threats to a family member. Decedent was reported to be under the influence of methamphetamine. Deputies arrived at the residence and made contact with the decedent and decedent’s mother. Decedent’s mother wanted decedent to leave the residence. Decedent agreed to let deputies transport him to a motel in Marshall, Texas. While the Deputy transported Decedent to the motel, decedent became extremely paranoid, screaming for the deputy to stop. Decedent began pushing on the deputy’s patrol car cage with his legs, pushing the deputy into the steering wheel. Decedent began trying to break the rear passenger window of the patrol car. Deputy pulled over and placed the decedent into handcuffs and told decedent he was under arrest. Decedent continued to scream and push on deputy’s patrol car cage. Once at the Harrison County Jail, decedent would not exit the patrol car and had to be physically removed. Decedent had to be escorted into the jail by additional deputies as he refused to walk on his own. Decedent continued to ignore deputies while on the ground and tried to lock both of his feet underneath a clothing cabinet located within the changing room. Deputies used drive stun techniques from a Taser, pressure point control tactics to gain compliance from decedent. Deputies and jailers were finally able to secure the decedent in a restraint chair. The Decedent was removed from the inmate changing area and placed in a Detox cell located near the jail’s booking desk. The Decedent was placed in the restraint chair at 13:48. Following procedure, jail staff began conducting routine 10 minute checks to reassess the decedent’s need to remain in the restraint chair. The decedent can be heard moving around and making noises up until 16:44. Audio from the jail camera detects Decedent gasping for air, followed by silence from the cell. At 16:49 jail staff notice Decedent is not breathing. Jail staff attempt to administer lifesaving techniques to the decedent. EMS arrived at 16:57 and exited at 17:00 performing CPR on the decedent. Decedent was pronounced deceased at 17:28”.
As indicated in our prior post, it appears that the TCJS failed the Harrison County, Texas jail as a result of Mr. Hurt’s death. The TCJS inspector determined that the Screening Form for Suicide and Medical/Mental/Developmental Impairments was not completed in its entirety. Further, one or more Harrison County jailers apparently did not document that Mr. Hurt either refused or was unable to complete the form. Moreover, the TCJS inspector determined, apparently with regard to Mr. Hurt, that the jail did not run a Continuity of Care Query immediately upon intake.
We had previously written, on or about January 5, 2021, about the Harrison County jail, in Marshall, Texas, failing a TCJS inspection. The TCJS inspector noted, and the inspection related to that failure, that the jail did not show that medications were being distributed to inmates in accordance with written instructions from a physician. The inspector also noted that medication for an inmate was stopped after 7 days even though the medication had been prescribed for 10 days. The inspector also noted, which could have some importance regarding Mr. Hurt’s death, that the Harrison County jail had restraint chair logs indicating that staff exceeded the required 15-minute observation by as little as one minute, and by as much up to 22 minutes on multiple occasions.
The TCJS inspector also learned during that inspection that there were no documented face-to-face observation of inmates housed on the 4th floor of the main jail facility on the day of the inspection, and that there was no documentation of observations for roughly a 6-week period of time in late 2020. Likewise, we wrote in 2018 about another time when the Harrison County jail failed a TCJS inspection.
We make no allegation of any wrongdoing against anyone regarding Mr. Hurt’s death. However, the United States Constitution guarantees the right of Texas residents to not have excessive force used against them and, if incarcerated, to receive reasonable medical care and mental health care. If a person dies as a result of excessive force, denial of medical care, or denial of mental health care, and the death was as a result of Constitutional violations, then certain surviving family members might have claims to be filed in a lawsuit.
Dean Malone
Dean Malone