The 38-year-old man who struggled with officers and was tased in the Clayton County Jail in November died as a result of homicide, the Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office announced Friday.
Terry Lee Thurmond III of Hapeville died after detention officers sought to stop him from jumping from the second floor of the lockup, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
During the struggle, the jailers restrained him by “placing hands, knees and their weight” on him “while he was laying face down for about 10-15 minutes,” the Medical Examiner’s Office report says. Minutes later, according to the report, Thurmond was found to be unresponsive. A nurse sought to revive him with chest compressions.
Thurmond — who had a history of bipolar, paranoid schizophrenia and hypertension — was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the report says.
Surveillance video from inside the jail helped the Medical Examiner’s Office determine the manner of Thurmond’s death was homicide, said Brian Byars, the office’s director.
“Ultimately, he would have not died that night without that altercation,” Byars told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “That is the reason we ruled it a homicide.”
On Saturday, the GBI said it was still investigating Thurmond’s death, adding the case file will eventually be given to the Clayton County District Attorney’s Office for review. On Sunday, Clayton District Attorney Tasha Mosley said she was waiting for the GBI to finish its investigation.
“It would be premature for me to make a comment on what we will do when I haven’t had a chance to review any evidence,” she said in an email. “My office will always do what’s right to protect victims and get justice for those that have been harmed.”
An attorney for Thurmond’s relatives called for “the officers responsible to be arrested and charged immediately.”
“We also ask that any supporters of Terry and his family remain focused on justice and changing policies to protect persons in detention with mental health and emotional disorders so this does not happen again,” said Thomas Reynolds, the family’s attorney.
“Lastly, we call for transparency from the government, release the video and administrative report. It’s shocking that the family has still not heard from officials in charge of Clayton County to apologize for Mr. Thurmond’s death.”
The Clayton Sheriff’s Office announced last month it had fired some of its employees following an investigation of Thurmond’s death, though it did not identify them.
Thurmond was charged with criminal trespass and taken to the Clayton County Jail after entering secure areas of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport without a ticket. An Atlanta police report says officers also found “a warrant out of Fulton County with extradition for probation violation” for Thurmond. He graduated from Tri-Cities High School in East Point and had three children.
At least 27 Clayton jail detainees have died since 2009, according to records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In October, former Clayton Sheriff Victor Hill was found guilty in federal court on six charges that he violated the civil rights of jail detainees by strapping them into restraint chairs as punishment. He is scheduled to be sentenced in February.
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