Man Commits Suicide in Pleasant Hill, Missouri Police Department Jail

Anthony Phillip Garner committed suicide in the Pleasant Hill Police Department jail in Missouri. Mr. Garner passed away on December 19, 2018. Mr. Garner used his own belt to hang himself, and he wasn’t even discovered for almost two hours afterward. The Jackson County medical examiner performed an autopsy and ruled Mr. Garner’s death as a suicide. Allegedly, the police department’s written policies were such that an arrested person’s belt must be removed before the person is put into a cell.

The United States Constitution, specifically the Fourteenth Amendment, requires that city jailers and county jailers provide reasonable medical care and mental health care to inmates, and as well protect them from themselves and others. If jailers fail to do so, and are deliberately indifferent to serious medical or mental health issues, the jailers could be liable to surviving family members pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

Suicides in jails are a common problem across the United States, and any competent jailer is aware of such a risk. Competent jailers are also aware of the fact that the vast majority of such suicides occur through asphyxiation – through hanging or strangulation. Therefore, competent jailers know that they cannot leave drawstrings, telephone cords, bedding, belts, or other similar items in a cell with a person who may commit suicide.

Written By: Dean Malone

Dean Malone

Dean Malone is the founder of Law Offices of Dean Malone, P.C., a jail neglect civil rights law firm. Mr. Malone earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Texas at Dallas, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 GPA, and from Baylor University School of Law with a general civil litigation concentration. Mr. Malone served in several staff positions for the Baylor Law Review, including executive editor. Mr. Malone is an experienced trial lawyer, trying a number of cases to jury verdict and also handling arbitrations through final hearing. He heads the jail neglect section of his law firm, in which lawyers litigate cases involving serious injury and death resulting from jail neglect and abuse. Lawyers frequently refer cases to Mr. Malone due to his focus on this very complicated civil rights practice area.