jail deaths

A Wyandotte County judge has dismissed the criminal case against Deputy Richard Fatherley, who was charged with second-degree murder of Charles Adair, an inmate who died in the county jail last July after deputies kneeled on his back. Fatherley still faces a wrongful death lawsuit.

Abide In Love formed in Rolla and now has seven chapters across three states — including one in Kansas City. The group provides money for jail phone calls and commissary, grocery deliveries, bus tickets to go home after a detainee was released, hotels, rent, bills and more.

The “mortality” of Missouri prisoners is not a performance standard for the state’s health care contractor, the MDOC director said this month.

About 50 people gathered to mourn Leo Cruz-Silva, who died by suicide in a jail in Ste. Genevieve last week while being detained by ICE. His was the second reported suicide in ICE custody in Missouri this year.

An affidavit outlines the events leading up to Charles Adair’s death and the KBI investigation that followed. Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Fatherley is charged with second-degree murder.

Attorneys for the family of Charles Adair, 50, whose death was ruled a homicide, saw body camera footage of his death Tuesday. It showed Wyandotte County deputy sheriff Richard Fatherley kneeling on Adair’s back for a minute and a half, they said.

A coroner's report found that 50-year-old Charles Adair died by "mechanical asphyxia" at the Wyandotte County Detention Center after a deputy kneeled on his back and restrained him. A similar tactic caused the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Critical questions remain about how a 50-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, man died in the Wyandotte County Jail more than two months ago. Charles Adair’s death has been ruled a homicide, but new details reveal striking similarities to the death of George Floyd in 2020.

The death of Charles Adair, 50, which has been ruled a homicide, was due to a common police procedure called prone restraint. "This is in the hands of the law officers," a medical expert said.

Charles Adair, 50, died July 5 after detention facility staff moved him back to his cell from the infirmary as he physically resisted, according to an initial report from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The homicide finding has been referred to the Wyandotte County District Attorney's office.

Ozark County reached a contract with ICE to help the Trump administration carry out immigrant detentions and deportations. And the rural Missouri county is reaping the benefits by raising wages and hiring for new law enforcement positions.

The federal agency says Brayan Garzón-Rayo did not receive a mental health evaluation due to staffing shortages that day and later testing positive for COVID-19.