The Clayton County Sheriff’s Office has fired some of its employees following an investigation of the death of a 38-year-old detainee who struggled with detention officers and was tased after he attempted to jump from the second floor of the county jail.
During the struggle, the jailers restrained Terry Lee Thurmond III, 38, of Hapeville by “placing hands, knees and their weight” on him “while he was laying face down for about 10-15 minutes,” according to a Clayton County Medical Examiner office report, which does not say whether those actions played a role in his death. 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. The GBI said an autopsy would be conducted.
“On November 28th, I alerted the public that an incident involving the death of an inmate had occurred and that I brought in the G.B.I. to investigate the matter,” Chief Deputy Levon Allen announced Monday. “While the criminal aspect of the investigation is still under review by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, an administrative investigation was handled by the Sheriff’s Office’s Internal Affairs Unit as to whether policies and procedures were followed. As a result, all employees directly involved were terminated for policy violations.”
Allen did not identify the employees who were fired. And his office did not immediately respond to emailed questions Tuesday morning.
An attorney for Thurmond’s relatives said they are pleased “the officers responsible for causing Mr. Thurmond’s death have been fired,” adding “there must be full transparency.”
“On behalf of the family, we are demanding an immediate release of all information surrounding Terry’s death,” said Thomas Reynolds, the family’s attorney. “It is in the public’s interest to release this information without delay. The family deserves justice and the people of Clayton County are crying out for accountability at all levels from those that are sworn to protect and serve 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. Among them were five who died last year, the Clayton jail’s highest annual death toll in more than a decade.
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.
