Coroner: Black man pepper-sprayed, tased by SC deputies likely died of cardiac event

A Black man in South Carolina who was pepper-sprayed and tased by South Carolina deputies likely died of abnormal heart rhythm, a coroner said.

Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo O’Neal said in a news conference on Wednesday that Jamal Sutherland’s death was changed from “undetermined” to “homicide.”

O’Neal said Sutherland died “as the result of a cardiac event.” The event was likely a fatal dysrhythmia, otherwise known as an abnormal heart rhythm.

The incident leading to Sutherland’s death occurred on Jan. 5, but body camera footage of his death was released last month.

Police were attempting to forcibly remove Sutherland from his jail cell for a bond hearing. The footage showed two deputies shouting at Sutherland to get on his stomach, before the man says he can’t get up.

Sutherland did not respond to requests from officers to come to the door of his cell to get handcuffed, and he was shocked and pepper-sprayed several times and can be heard screaming in pain.

One of the deputies places his knee on Sutherland’s back for more than two minutes, and Sutherland can be heard saying “I can’t breathe.” Sutherland was pronounced dead after an hour of failed resuscitation attempts.

The two deputies involved in the incident — Sgt. Lindsay Fickett and Detention Deputy Brian Houle — have been terminated.

O’Neal said Wednesday that her office identified three “very significant factors” that are believed to have played a role in Sutherland’s death.

One of the factors identified was an “excited state,” which was a direct result of his diagnoses of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and the second was a change in the baseline medications that he took for his mental illness.

O’Neal further said that the process that was used to remove Sutherland from his cell was also a factor in his death.

“We know that there’s probably a traumatic stress response that happens during that process,” she said. “Although that’s not measurable, that’s not something we can measure an attest for, we can’t exclude that as being a factor in the death of Mr. Sutherland.”

O’Neal said that her office is still awaiting results of further testing, though she doesn’t think it will change the cause of Sutherland’s death. 

“We want to be as complete and thorough and possible,” she said. “This information is important in that we have a full picture. That we get all the circumstances. We owe that to Jamal, we owe that to his family.”