The family of a man who died after being restrained in an Ohio county jail says they've reached a $7 million settlement with the county and are pushing officials there to prevent something like it from happening again.
A lawyer for the family of Christian Black, who died March 26, said Tuesday that Montgomery County has taken responsibility and officials there have indicated they would take steps, such as adding inpatient beds for people in need of mental health help.
But attorney Michael Wright also says that Black’s family wants to see more, such as jail officers charged and convicted in Black's death.
“Even if you have every policy and procedure in place, if you don’t have the right staff, if you don’t have the right people they’re not going to follow the policies and procedures. You need to hire people that are humane. Hire people that are kind. Hire people that are trying to be helpful to people in this vulnerable situation," Wright said.
Christian Black, 25, was in the jail after he crashed a stolen car, police have said. There, video from inside the jail released by Black’s family and attorneys showed Black inside a cell, yelling and repeatedly banging his fist and head against a glass door.
Nine deputies gathered outside the cell, with some rushing in. They pinned Black to the floor and put handcuffs on him before wrestling him into a restraint chair, the video showed.
Black’s head flopped and slumped while he was in the restraint chair. The video showed that jail staff checked Black’s eyes, took his blood pressure and rubbed his chest while he was unresponsive in the chair.
About nine minutes passed between the time he was put in the chair and when the jail staff started CPR, the family’s attorneys have said.
Black died two days after he was taken to a hospital. The county coroner’s office has said that Black likely died from positional asphyxia, which happens when the chest can’t expand, starving the body of oxygen. His death was ruled a homicide by the coroner.
In a statement, Montgomery County’s administrator, Michael Colbert, and the sheriff’s office expressed sympathy for Black’s family.
No jail personnel have been criminally charged, and the Montgomery County sheriff’s office declined comment on the settlement, saying an investigation was ongoing.