Riverside County quietly paid $7.5M to the family of a man who died in 2020 after a violent cell extraction at the Banning jail. He was left alone for 7 mins after being hit with pepper spray, rubber pellets and tightly restrained. He stopped breathing. nytimes.com/2024/05/17/us/…
The settlement comes as the California Justice Dept's civil rights investigation of the department - which was triggered after custody deaths quadrupled in the county - continues to unfold. desertsun.com/story/news/nat…
I've been reporting on these deaths for years @MyDesert , but this one and the graphic video capturing some of Christopher Zumwalt's last moments was particularly disturbing in ways I couldn't completely fit into the story...
For example, his neighbor called 911 at his request. Christopher had been experiencing a break up and custody issues. He admitted to taking meth and was delusional. He was asking for help. Body cam showed him ask the deputy to be released to his family in Cabazon. But was denied.
He was supposed to be released after sobering up with a citation. But the jail's staff attempted a cell extraction after he wouldn't agree to a medical evaluation. As the videos and the story show, he later died.
Those of us who live inland, from Cabazon, where Christopher lived, to the desert, are never too distant from hardship. But we also see so much resilience among our neighbors who might be experiencing difficulty. Christopher's life was cut short.
This story will be the first in a project I'm committing myself to for the next year. If you or someone you know has information about inland county jail conditions, custody deaths, and anything else in this vein, don't hesitate to reach out.
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