Damnnn, son. In the same day, four Missouri prison guards got mollywopped with both murder charges and a lawsuit. For what, you ask? The cops were named in the alleged ambush and torturous death of a Black inmate during a drug raid.
The incident occurred December 8, 2023 when the Department of Corrections Emergency Response Team did a sweep of the Jefferson City Correctional Center for weapons and contraband, per a lawsuit filed Friday. Four prison guards arrived at cell of 38-year-old Othel Moore Jr. and allegedly placed a spit hood over his face, wrapped his limbs to a restraint chair and pepper-sprayed him multiple times, per a charging document also filed Friday.
A former inmate who claimed to have witnessed the scene go down told CNN Moore was being regarded as non-compliant because the officers refused to detain him with a special set of handcuffs for his medical condition and weight. He also said he heard Moore scream out that he’s allergic to mace which only made him go further into panic and request medical help.
Moore was then moved to another housing unit, left in the same restraints with no attendance. Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson alleged Moore cried out multiple times that he couldn’t breathe. It wasn’t until 30 minutes later that he was transported to the hospital wing and pronounced dead. Moore’s family attorney, Andrew Stroth, said the restraints were so stressful on Moore’s body, he had blood coming out of his ears and nose, per The AP.
The medical examiner ruled his cause of death as a homicide from positional asphyxiation.
Read what happened to the prison guards from NBC News:
The complaint charges Justin Leggins, Jacob Case, Aaron Brown and Gregory Varner each with one count of second-degree murder and with one count of being an accessory to second-degree assault. A fifth guard, Bryanne Bradshaw, is charged with one count of accessory to involuntary manslaughter.
Lawyers for Moore’s mother and sister filed a lawsuit Friday against the officers and the Department of Corrections.
The Moore family’s lawyers described the Corrections Emergency Response Team as “a group that uses coercive measures to brutalize, intimidate and threaten inmates” in a copy of the lawsuit provided to AP.
“This attack on Othel Moore, Jr. was not an isolated occurrence, but rather the manifestation of a barbarous pattern and practice, fostered by the highest-ranking members of the Missouri Department of Corrections,” lawyers wrote in the lawsuit.
In response to the controversy surrounding Moore’s death, the Missouri Department of Corrections released a statement saying Moore died as a result of a restraint system “designed to prevent injury to himself and others.” The department also said they have since discontinued the use of that restraint system.
It’s unclear what behavior Moore exhibited in the first place to warrant the response of the prison guards to restrain him. However, Thompson said the whole scene was caught on surveillance camera which drew him to pursue criminal charges against the officers: Justin Leggins, Jacob Case, Aaron Brown and Gregory Varner. The DOC also launched their own probes into the incident.
“-the department previously conducted a separate internal investigation. As a result of the two investigations, ten people involved in the incident are no longer employed by the department or its contractors,” the release said.
Moore was serving a 30-year sentence for second-degree domestic assault, possession of a controlled substance, two counts of first-degree robbery, two counts of armed criminal action, and violence to an inmate or employee of the Department of Corrections.