Even after finally being transported to the jail’s infirmary, evidence suggests that jailers and medical personnel seemed to continue reacting to the inmate’s suffering with indifference. A video at the jail shows that the inmate kept knocking on the glass door of his cell in an attempt to get the attention of the nurse, and he collapsed at least five times doing this. Three employees later said that they heard the inmate complain that he was unable to breathe. Two say they believed him and one did not. None of them, however, took action to save the inmate’s life.

To the inmate’s claim that he could not breathe, a deputy responded that if he is yelling, he is breathing.

A jail secretary and a lab technician were both concerned enough about the inmate’s condition that they asked a different charge nurse to please take the man’s vitals. That nurse refused their request.

The lab technician later described to investigators that the man fell backward to the floor and crawled to the window, begging for help and repeatedly saying that he could not breathe.

See Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and ongoing installments to learn more about details of this man’s tragic death plus additional information about other custodial deaths in county jails in the state outside of Texas.

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–Guest Contributor