Richmond City Jail inmate died of asthma, sheriff says
A Richmond City Jail inmate died last fall naturally of acute asthma and not as a result of a beating by several deputies, Sheriff C.T. Woody said yesterday.
The state medical examiner's office ruled that Korey Larry Johnson's Oct. 15 death was natural and caused by asthma, an agency spokeswoman confirmed.
Woody said the findings are contrary to the family's claim in a $15 million wrongful-death lawsuit that he died after being beaten by a small group of deputies.
"The final autopsy report . . . clearly refutes the allegations of assault by sheriff's office personnel," Woody said in a statement.
"I am saddened that Mr. Johnson died while in our care," the sheriff added. "However, we are confident that no wrongdoing took place. The finding of the medical examiner's office vindicates the deputies who were falsely accused of improper conduct. Now they can put this behind them and continue to do their job as trained public servants."
Stephen V. Sommers, who brought the suit against the city and the Richmond Sheriff's Office on behalf of Johnson's mother, said he does not consider the matter settled.
Sommers said he had not yet reviewed the medical examiner's findings so he couldn't address the cause-of-death issue.
But he noted that photographs taken after Johnson died show abrasions on his head and bleeding wounds on his arms, hands, torso and legs. "I don't know how that's going to match up" with the autopsy report, he said.
Regardless, Sommers said, "it's not necessarily the end of the matter . . . since the allegation is that the deputies left him unconscious for an extended period of time without providing medical care is still gross negligence."
The lawsuit, filed May 5 in Richmond Circuit Court, alleges that Johnson, 29, died less than 24 hours after being beaten in the head, neck, legs and chest by a small group of deputies. He had been jailed Oct. 14 on charges of stealing a neighbor's lawn mower.
The suit claims that several witnesses saw the deputies initiate an altercation that led to the beating in the Richmond Jail Annex. Johnson, who suffered from asthma and high blood pressure, could be heard wheezing after the alleged assault, the suit adds.
But Woody believes the medical examiner's report clearly shows that Johnson did not die from "trauma or evidence of a beating."
Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or
.
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Reader Reactions
So it doesn’t occur to you that an attorney who would allege a beating that obviously didn’t take place and slander officers of the law would also “misstate” other facts of the case, like when/if/and why medical care was given? He obviously didn’t even take the time to find out the difference between what the “lockup” is vs. the jail. The lockup is where arrestees are brought by the police and other agencies, after they capture them, for temporary holding. A person’s stay there is usually only a few hours. From there, they are seen by a magistrate, pretrial services, and sometimes even a judge before (if necessary) being sent to jail to await a hearing or trial. I would caution anyone who wishes to judge this situation to wait until they understand the facts, and not just take the work of an attorney who is obviously too blinded by a big payday to try to understand what actually happened. All of the deputies that work in that hostile environment 12 hrs a day deserve our respect, and yes, the benefit of the doubt. They deal with and see things that most citizens could never imagine.
Oh goody, the Sheriff’s Office did not beat the man to death, they just allowed him to die by witholding proper medical care. Capital punishment for stealing a lawn mower! What’s next for Richmond, being shot in the back for “attempting” to steal a car? Oh, that’s been done already?
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