The Clarksville Police Department has fired an officer after concluding an investigation and disciplinary process in the July 3 death of inmate Darius Chappell.
The department said the officer who arrested Chappell, Steven Deering, was no longer employed as of Sept. 1.
Chappell, 34, was arrested June 29 in what the department called a “use-of-force incident involving one of our canine officers.”
Chappell was found unresponsive in his cell at about 3 a.m. July 3 at the Montgomery County Jail during what was described as a routine check.
“Emergency Medical Services responded to the jail and transported Chappell to Vanderbilt of Clarksville, where he was pronounced deceased by medical staff,” according to a statement released by the Montgomery County
Sheriff's Office after his death.
A video of Chappell's arrest surfaced online, and an internal investigation was launched into the officers’ use of force.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is also involved in a probe of Chappell's death.
On July 4, the Tennessee State Conference NAACP and the Clarksville Branch NAACP held a news conference at the House of God Church of God In Christ concerning the circumstances of the inmate's death.
“On July 5th, 1852, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, delivered his historic speech, ‘What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?’ Today is the 4th of July. If I ask you, what freedom can we celebrate this Fourth of July?” Gloria Sweet-Love, NAACP president of the Tennessee State Conference, said during that event.
“You would say, like Frederick Douglass, what can we celebrate when at the stroke of a pen, the Supreme Court of the United States can strike down voting rights legislation that has been in place for 60 years. I ask you, what freedoms can we celebrate when a traffic stop can result in a vicious attack by a canine and death in a jail cell for the injuries two days later.”
Tennessean reporter Gabrielle Chenault contributed to this story.
Kenya Anderson is a reporter for The Leaf-Chronicle.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Clarksville officer fired after investigation into K-9 arrest, jail death
