Prison guards fired in Black inmate’s death
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s correctional agency has terminated seven employees after officials say prison guards used excessive and unjustified force against a Black inmate before he died in custody in February.
The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction sent a notice of removal Friday to five corrections officers, a supervisor and a licensed nurse following an investigation into the in-custody death of Michael McDaniel, 55.
Security footage released by the agency in July showed McDaniel collapsing on his own and being taken down to the floor by prison guards at least 16 times before he died at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, a Columbus suburb, on Feb. 6.
“We’re responsible for what happened in that video,” director Annette Chambers-Smith told reporters in July, after releasing surveillance footage of the incident. “There is no question about that.”
One of the officers involved, Heath Causey, is accused in the records of performing a “takedown” of McDaniel while the inmate was being escorted outside without shoes and a coat and while wearing a t-shirt, “causing his body to veer off the walking path and land facedown in a snow-covered area.”
The disciplinary records also state Lt. Bruce Brown “took no steps to stop” McDaniel from falling to the ground and failed to call for assistance to transport him to the medical facility after correction officers used excessive force.
The majority of the encounters appear to happen as more than half a dozen officers looked on. The department concluded the 16 times McDaniel hit the ground were avoidable and due to neglect of care by the staff handling him.
The guards escorted McDaniel outside the facility where he collapsed for the last time before CPR was initiated and an ambulance was called. He died shortly after.
Four hours later, the agency says Jamie Dukes, a nurse, signed a document that McDaniels refused care. “However, Ms. Dukes was not in the room to actually hear Inmate McDaniel refuse treatment,” the records state. The agency said McDaniel never refused treatment and Dukes was also terminated.
Chris Mabe, the president of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, the union representing correctional officers, said the union could not comment on the removals as it remains under investigation through their administrative grievance process.
The coroner’s office had declared McDaniel’s death a homicide and ruled the cause as a “stress-induced sudden cardiac death.” A county prosecutor will make a decision on any
criminal charges against the prison employees.