The Wyandotte County District Attorney announced Thursday that it is charging Wyandotte County deputy sheriff Richard Fatherley in the July death of Charles Adair, a 50-year-old father of three.
Fatherley was charged with second degree murder, although District Attorney Mark Dupree Sr. also offered an alternative charge of involuntary manslaughter. Both charges are felonies.
Adair was arrested on July 4 on misdemeanor traffic warrants and brought to the Wyandotte County Detention Center. On July 5, he received medical care at the jail infirmary for a preexisting leg wound around 8:30 p.m.
He was being moved by wheelchair to his cell when, according to a coroner's report obtained by KCUR, an altercation broke out with guards "which resulted in one of the officers kneeling on the decedent's back."
“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. By 8:37 p.m., Adair was out cold.
Adair was pronounced dead at 9:19 p.m. The coroner’s report said Adair had multiple rib fractures, a sternal fracture and muscle hemorrhage, or bruising, on the top of his back and shoulders.
His death was ruled a homicide earlier this month.
An obituary from Marcom-Harvey Funeral Care described him as a devoted Kansas City Royals and Chiefs fan with a deep appreciation for music, and “a man whose laughter and warmth were as boundless as his love for family and friends.”
A hearing in the criminal case is set for Tuesday, Nov. 18 at the Wyandotte County District Courthouse in Kansas City, Kansas.
The restraint used against Adair is known as "prone restraint," where an arrested person is placed face down on the ground so their arms can be pulled back and handcuffed. This tactic has been known to be deadly since the mid-1990s, KCUR previously reported, and famously caused the 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
A May 2025 paper in the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine found 229 cases of prone restraint-related deaths between 2010 and 2019. Most of the victims were Black males, who were restrained for one to five minutes with weight force.
@kcur893 On July 5 at 8:30 p.m., 50-year-old Charles Adair received medical care at the Wyandotte County jail infirmary for a preexisting wound on his leg. By 8:37 p.m., he was facedown on the floor of his cell, unresponsive. A report from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation ruled his death a homicide, but provided only vague details about what happened the night he died. KCUR’s Peggy Lowe shares how, through a leaked coroner’s report, she learned that a deputy had been kneeling on Adair’s back in minutes before he became unresponsive. His death draws similarities to that of George Floyd. 🎤 Reporting by Peggy Lowe 🎬 Filmed & produced by Zach Perez 💻 Edited by Gabe Rosenberg #kansascity #wyandotte #georgefloyd #police #jail ♬ original sound - KCUR - Kansas City
This is a breaking news story and will be updated. KCUR's Peggy Lowe contributed reporting.
