A 50-year-old man died in the Wyandotte County Jail after a sheriff’s officer knelt on the man’s back, KCUR has learned, causing asphyxia in a death ruled a homicide.
Charles Adair, who was in jail on misdemeanor traffic warrants, was being moved to a cell on July 5 when he had an altercation with either one or several guards “which resulted in one of the officers kneeling on the decedent’s back,” according to the coroner’s report obtained by KCUR.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation issued a statement late Friday saying Adair’s death was due to complications of “mechanical asphyxia,” defined as “when an object or a physical force stops you from breathing” or “body positions that may prevent you from breathing.”
Although it said the death was a homicide, the KBI report said other factors contributed to Adair’s death, including hypertensive cardiovascular disease and hepatic cirrhosis due to chronic alcoholism. Adair also had dentures on his upper teeth and wore a pacemaker, according to the coroner’s report.
Signed by Dr. Feng Li, a senior associate medical examiner, the report said Adair also had multiple rib fractures, a sternal fracture and muscle hemorrhage, or bruising, on the top of his back and shoulders. Adair also had dentures on his upper teeth and wore a pacemaker, according to the report. Feng was the doctor who ruled the death a homicide.
KBI said it has sent its findings to the district attorney’s office. The case is being reviewed and no decision has been made, said Jonathan Carter, a DA's spokesman. The county sheriff's office did not return an email and call from KCUR.
KBI’s statement on Friday did not include the detail of a deputy kneeling on Adair’s back.
Adair, who was booked into the jail on July 4, received medical care in the detention center’s infirmary for a preexisting wound on his leg, according to the first KBI report issued a day after Adair died. When officers attempted to take him back to his cell, Adair caused a disturbance, “by yelling, refusing to listen to commands, and physically resisting.”
Multiple deputies responded and “handcuffed Adair to gain compliance,” the KBI report said.
“They transported him to his cell, where several deputies placed him on the lower bunk. They began attempting to remove the handcuffs, while Adair continued to resist. They gained control, removed the cuffs, and left the cell,” the report said.
At 8:37 p.m., medical staff were called and Adair was found unresponsive, the KBI report said. Despite life-saving measures being given, Adair was pronounced dead at 9:19 p.m.
