Civil rights attorney seeks charges over inmate’s death

By MICHELLE LIU
Associated Press/Report for America

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A prominent civil rights attorney is calling on a South Carolina prosecutor to revisit a case and criminally charge the two jail employees who stunned a mentally ill Black man 10 times and kneeled on his back until he stopped breathing. Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson previously said the Charleston County jail deputies who were seen on surveillance video restraining Jamal Sutherland wouldn’t face charges because she couldn’t prove the guards intended to kill him. Attorney Ben Crump says there’s enough evidence to bring involuntary manslaughter charges against the guards, who were both fired in May. Charleston County had also previously agreed to pay a $10 million settlement to Sutherland’s family.