A middle-aged black inmate is dead, and 10 correctional employees have lost their jobs. Criminal prosecutions may follow.
What happened to 55-year-old Michael McDaniel sounds like something out of a medieval torture chamber.
Although McDaniel died from cardiac arrest, the coroner ruled his death a homicide. ABC News says (here), “The autopsy detailed injuries to his head, face, shoulders, wrists, hands, knees, feet, toes and abdomen. McDaniel also had multiple rib fractures ….”
How did he get all those injuries? McDaniel was thrown or fell to the ground at least 16 times. Despite all those injuries, an infirmary nurse examined him less than a minute, then he was taken back outside. He was barefoot, and wearing only a ripped t-shirt, in Ohio, in February. He fell face-down into a snowbank.
The nurse later claimed McDaniel refused medical treatment. She was lying. Prison officials said he didn’t, and she wasn’t even in the room then. She’s one of the employees who was fired. Six others also were fired, and three others resigned. The union representing them called McDaniel’s death a “tragedy” and called for “due process” for the prison workers who killed him.
An ABC/Fox-affiliate TV station in Columbus, Ohio, said (here) there were “five separate violent incidents.” As for what started it, “The video shows a verbal confrontation between McDaniels and a corrections officer. McDaniels was in his cell, during a recreation period. The officer decided to do a search of his cell. Officials said that was inappropriate and retaliatory. ‘Searches should not be targeted as a response to inmate behavior,’ said Chris Lambert, chief inspector, who walked reporters through the video.”
McDaniel’s sister says he was a Navy veteran who struggled with drugs. According to a police report, he was arrested while pandhandling for stabbing another panhandler during an argument (sounds to me like it was maybe a turf dispute).
Read more about this story here and here. The composite video below shows portions of the incidents.