Arraignment set for 6 Fulton deputies charged with murder in 2018 inmate death

The deputies — Arron Cook, Guito Delacruz, Omar Jackson, Jason Roache, Kenesia Strowder and William Whitaker — were indicted in November, more than three years after the 32-year-old’s death.

“It is now the duty of my office to prove these charges beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury at trial,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said last month in a statement. “My staff and I will continue to work to ensure that justice is done in this case.”

May, a father of three from Macon, had been taken to the Fulton County jail after he was arrested, accused of throwing rocks at the windows of the American Cancer Society building downtown, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. A 2019 federal lawsuit filed against the jail and its health care provider said May struggled with mental health issues and had tested positive for amphetamines at the time of his arrest.

He was taken to the hospital before being transferred to the Fulton jail.

The lawsuit alleges “excruciating pain and suffering” in the moments leading up to his death, which attorneys said occurred on what deputies and inmates called “Taser Tuesday.”

Family attorney Michael Harper said May died of cardiovascular collapse after being beaten, stunned and strapped to a chair.

“Antonio May was arrested on a misdemeanor,” Harper said Tuesday, noting the jailers deployed their stun guns eight times in 90 seconds. “His heart went out while he was strapped to that chair.”

The GBI said May was combative with jail staff, leading to a confrontation. The jail’s staff then used a stun gun on May and pepper-sprayed him, the state agency said in a news release.

After he was decontaminated from the pepper spray, May became unresponsive, the GBI said. Jail and medical staff performed CPR, but May was pronounced dead at the scene.

The lawsuit claims that after May removed his clothes inside the holding cell, the six jailers stunned him, beat him with closed fists and pepper-sprayed him repeatedly. May was then placed in a restraining chair, a spit mask on his face, and taken to shower for decontamination, the suit alleges. After that, the deputies put a hose to May’s face to flush the remaining pepper spray, according to the complaint. He died minutes later.

Credit: Submitted photo

Credit: Submitted photo

Harper said May’s case languished for more than two years, and applauded Willis for getting the deputies indicted after promising his family she would pursue charges.

“We want these officers to be held criminally liable for murdering Antonio May,” Harper said, noting that May was Black, as are the six deputies charged in his death. “This is not anti-law enforcement. This is not a racial case ... It’s just an abuse of power and it has to stop.”

Wednesday’s arraignment and plea hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m.

Jackson, Roache and Whitaker are still employed by the sheriff’s office, but remain on administrative leave, an agency spokeswoman said. All six defendants were booked into the Fulton jail Dec. 1 and released the same day on $50,000 bond, online records show.