The Columbus Dispatch – by Holly Zachariah
The Knox County sheriff’s office has asked the state attorney general’s office to investigate after a man died last week following a scuffle with a deputy in the jail’s booking room.
David Levi Dehmann had been arrested at 7:43 p.m. Tuesday by Mount Vernon police Cpl. Travis Tharp, who had been sent to the ball fields at Dan Emmett Elementary School after a call about a suspected drunken man who had fallen down by the restrooms.
Tharp arrested Dehmann on a charge of persistent disorderly conduct and took him to the Knox County Jail to be booked. Reports say Dehmann was belligerent in the cruiser.
A sheriff’s report says the 33-year-old Dehmann also “became aggressive with the jail staff” after he arrived at the sheriff’s office. The report says Dehmann tried to hit Deputy Chase Wright in the face, “causing Deputy Wright to place Mr. Dehmann into a takedown hold, taking him to the ground to get control of him.”
“Once control was gained, it was found that Mr. Dehmann had hit his head on the floor during the incident,” the report written by sheriff’s Sgt. Alan Hackman says.
Dehmann was taken to Knox County Hospital and later transferred to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center in Columbus. He died on Thursday. His family has declined to comment.
Knox County Sheriff David Shaffer said in an email today that Wright has been placed on administrative leave during the investigation. Shaffer has asked the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, an arm of Ohio attorney general Mike DeWine’s office, to investigate.
BCI spokeswoman Jill Del Greco said it is categorized as a “questioned-death investigation” and, after state agents complete their work, the case will be turned over to the county prosecutor for review, a standard procedure.
A series of reports show that Dehmann had a couple of run-ins with law–enforcement officers on the day of his arrest, and police said he had already had a head injury when they encountered him earlier that day.
Based on the reports, here is how officers and deputies say the day unfolded:
At 1:48 on Tuesday afternoon, Mount Vernon Police Officer Nicholas Myrda was on a call on Shirley Avenue in Dehmann’s neighborhood when someone flagged him down about an intoxicated, half-naked man who was lying down and vomiting on a nearby patio.
Myrda found Dehmann on the ground with blood on his face. The report says Dehmann had drank a bottle of vodka and a bottle of mouthwash and told the officer he had fallen and hit his head. He was taken to the local hospital by ambulance.
About 6 p.m., hospital staff told Cpl. Tharp, who was at the hospital on another matter, that Dehmann was being released but had no ride home. Tharp wrote that he gave Dehmann a ride to an aunt’s house. He wrote that Dehmann was walking on his own and speaking coherently.
Next came the 7:43 p.m. call about a man down at the school’s ball fields. Tharp responded. He said Dehmann had a bottle of vodka in his pocket and “was barely holding himself up.”
But after Dehmann was handcuffed, he became belligerent, Tharp wrote: Inside the cruiser, Dehmann “hit the Plexiglas cage, messed with the camera and spit on the passenger-side window.”
The takedown in the booking area happened, according to the sheriff’s office report, at 8:09 p.m.
Shaffer said an autopsy was done, and he is awaiting the report.
@hollyzachariah
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/04/27/Knox_County_jail_death.html
When does the looting, riots and burning start???