Family demands answers in Richland jail death
MANSFIELD - It’s been more than than 15 months since Alexander Jose Rios died after being forcefully subdued by correctional officers in an incident captured on video at the Richland County Jail.
Since then, his family members say they’ve been kept in the dark.
The special prosecutor said Friday he told the man’s stepfather he could not give him updates because it would be “inappropriate” and stressed he would not rush the case.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are conducting separate investigations.
Rios, 28, was arrested on Sept. 18, 2019, at the Wakeman home of his parents, Don and Toni Mould, after a domestic incident involving an ex-girlfriend and taken to the Mansfield jail on an outstanding warrant, records show.
The next day, the Richland County Sheriff’s Office reported that it was investigating an incident involving an inmate who had tried to commit suicide. The Sheriff’s Office said the Hispanic father of two boys, who was not identified at the time, had been standing on a half wall in a holding cell, shouting to jail staff through a door window, and officers said they believed he was going to try to take his own life. Sheriff’s Office video obtained recently by the News Journal shows the entire incident starting with correctional officers trying to enter Rios’ cell to place him in a restraint chair.
But when they opened the door, Rios bolted out, racing past the deputies who pursued him and tackled him in a nearby hallway.
Eight days later he would be dead, with the coroner ruling he died of “excited delirium” and noting that he tested positive for amphetamines.
‘Sloppy’ tactics: Video of officials subduing Rios under investigation
A criminal justice expert who reviewed the video for the News Journal questioned the tactics used by corrections officers.
Dr. Philip Stinson, a professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University, called the officers’ efforts to subdue Rios “sloppy” and said they “demonstrated a gross disregard for the value of human life.”
S. Forrest Thompson, the Medina County special prosecutor assigned to the case, said he told Mould he would not be able to provide updates on the investigation.
“I certainly understand their frustration. This is a very difficult situation — a very difficult situation with a lot of unanswered questions. You know that I brought BCI in and asked them to coordinate the investigation. And that work is ongoing,” Thompson said.
“So as why is it taking so long? Well, there’s any number of reasons, none of which are within my control,” he said. “The investigation will take as long as it needs in order to get it right.”
Thompson said the investigation is ongoing and that his office takes it “very, very seriously.”
Video shows deputies holding Rios down, kneeling on his back
The newly released jail video obtained by the News Journal through a public records request shows five deputies holding Rios down, stepping and kneeling on his back while another presses the inmate’s head into the jail’s concrete floor as they try to handcuff him.
The Sheriff’s Office redacted parts of the video by blurring the officers’ faces.
After struggling for several minutes and being shocked with a stun gun, Rios became unresponsive.
One of the jail staffers is heard shout
ing that Rios was turning blue.
In the initial news release, the sheriff’s office said officers initiated life-saving measures and summoned emergency medical services to the jail.
Mould said his stepson never regained consciousness after the jail confrontation. He also denied that his stepson was suicidal.
“My son probably was a handful — but he didn’t deserve that,” Mould told the News Journal.
Rios was transported to Ohiohealth Mansfield Hospital where, on Sept. 27, 2019, he was taken off a ventilator and pronounced dead.
Thompson was appointed by Richland County Prosecutor Gary Bishop to investigate the incident, and the Richland County Common Pleas Court approved the appointment.
You’re ‘causing a risk to harm yourself’
The jail incident began after deputies ordered Rios to come down off a short divider wall inside a holding cell.
In video recorded by corrections officers, Rios refuses to come down, but does not make any threats to jump.
An unidentified corrections officer stands outside the holding cell and orders Rios to get down.
“This is the last time I’m going to ask you,” the officer says. “I’ve asked you for five minutes and I’m not going to do it anymore.”
“What do you mean? I’m not supposed to be in here,” Rios replies.
The officer then warns Rios that he’s going to be placed in a restraint chair for his own safety.
“You’re not listening. You’re on a divider, causing a risk to harm yourself,” the officer says. “We don’t have time to continue that all night.”
As soon as officers open the cell door, Rios bolts out and runs past, but is quickly tackled.
Five officers struggle to restrain him.
Officers seen using stun gun, punch and cuff Rios in video
After about 10 seconds, a female officer tells the others to use their stun guns.
“Tase him! Tase him!” she shouts. Rios is shocked at least twice, then placed on his stomach, according to the video footage.
The female officer can be heard saying that Rios, who’s groaning, “must be on some type of drug, I believe.”
“Should we tase him again?” a deputy asks, to which the female officer replies, “You need to.”
No one moves to deploy their stun gun. An officer punches Rios in the head.
Another officer places one foot on Rios’ back and lifts his other foot off the ground, putting his full weight on the inmate for several seconds.
Rios can be heard gasping.
About two minutes after he ran out of the cell, Rios becomes unresponsive.
“Let go of the cuff!” an officer shouts, but there’s no reply from Rios.
“Get a pair of shackles,” the female officer orders.
At that point, none of the officers appears to realize that Rios is unresponsive.
An officer instructs another deputy to cuff Rios’ ankles.
It’s only when officers begin to lift Rios to his feet to put him in the restraint chair that they realize he’s unconscious.
“Get up!” an officer shouts as Rios’ head rolls.
“He’s turning blue,” the female officer shouts. Ten seconds later, she tells someone to “call a squad.”
Rios is placed on his side.
“Try to get him some oxygen, make sure everything’s going OK for him,” an officer says.
Investigation still open
The Ohio Bureau of Identification and Investigation has provided few details on the ongoing inquiry.
BCI spokesperson Zahid H. Siddiqi said Tuesday that “any BCI records potentially responsive to your request are investigatory work product that currently constitute trial preparation records.”
Siddiqi also told the News Journal that the FBI has an open case on the jail incident. Vicki Anderson, special agent for the Cleveland office of the FBI, declined to comment.
Richland County Sheriff J. Steve Sheldon issued a statement in response to the News Journal.
“Because these two outside agencies are involved in investigating and reviewing the incident, the sheriff’s office cannot provide additional comment regarding the status of the investigation or review. However, the sheriff’s office recognizes that the loss of life is always a tragedy and expresses its deep condolences to Mr. Rios’ family members.”
A sheriff’s office incident report lists five employees involved in the case by last name only.
The News Journal attempted to verify their full names and involvement.
Stinson, the BGSU criminal justice professor, called the jail video “very troubling.”
Officers failed to follow best practices in removing Rios from the holding cell, which would have prevented Rios from running past them.
“That should never have happened,” Stinson said.
He noted that a correctional officer “gratuitously punched the inmate in the head and applied downward pressure on his skull while he was on the ground and being restrained.”
Meanwhile, Stinson said, the other officers “were applying downward pressure on the inmate’s chest, making it difficult for him to breathe and rendering him unconscious.”
Stinson said he believes “there should be a criminal investigation by an outside agency.”
Cause of death ‘excited delirium’
On Monday, the Richland County Sheriff’s Office’s legal counsel, Fishel Downey Albrecht & Riepenhoff, released the redacted jail video of the incident to the News Journal.
In the death certificate filed at Richland Public Health, Dr. Daniel Burwell, county coroner, listed Rios’ cause of death as “excited delirium.”
Montgomery County Coroner Dr. Kent Harshbarger, a forensic pathologist whose office conducted the Rios autopsy, said that in general, not addressing the Rios case specifically, excited delirium involves a person in a highly agitated state whose brain is misinterpreting information triggering the body’s organs to release stimulant chemicals.
“Whether the person is misperceiving signals or they are actually in a physical confrontation, their body is becoming more alert and the heart’s reaction with those chemicals is to beat stronger and beat faster and increase blood pressure,” said Harshbarger.
The coroner said drugs are typically involved, such as methamphetamines, cocaine, or some kind of stimulant medication. Autopsies of people who die of excited delirium typically “don’t have solid autopsy findings like strangulation or beating.”
The death certificate also listed “urinary drug screen positive for amphetamines per medical records at the hospital” as other significant conditions contributing to death, but not resulting in the underlying cause of excited delirium.
Richland County Coroner’s Investigator Bob Ball released the autopsy report to the News Journal on Friday. The document describes a few small abrasions on Rios’ body but no notable trauma. The autopsy said a torn bag-like object was found in Rios’ stomach and that he tested positive for amphetamines.
‘Looking to get some closure’
Mould, in a letter to Thompson dated Dec. 16, 2020, requested information from the special prosecutor on the status of the investigation.
“As you should know, Alexander Rios died as a result of the incident on Sept. 19, 2019, while in the custody of the Richland County Jail. We have been told that you are the independent investigating party regarding our son’s death. We are looking to get some closure on the passing of our son,” Mould wrote.
“What concerns us, however, is the length of the investigation — it has been ongoing for almost one year and three months. We feel that the investigation into our son’s death should be completed after this extended period of time...,” Mould wrote.
Marion attorney J.C. Ratliff, who represents Rios’ stepfather and mother, said Wednesday that the case is an example of “justice delayed, justice denied.”
“We’re not going to wait on authorities,” Ratliff said. “It’s been 16 months ago with video evidence. In the future we are going to be filing a federal lawsuit in the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland on a violation of civil rights, excessive use of force and wrongful death.”
Ratliff said the jail video shows the five corrections officers leaning on top of Rios and crushing him against the concrete floor.
“Why didn’t they just pick him up and put him in a cell?” Ratliff said. “He couldn’t escape. He was in a secured area.
“His stepdad wants someone to be held accountable. It was unnecessary force that resulted in his death,” Ratliff said.
News Journal reporter Monroe Trombly contributed to this report. lwhitmir@gannett.com 419-521-7223
Twitter: @Lwhitmir