KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — A white Kansas sheriff’s deputy charged with murder in the death of a Black jail inmate shoved his knee into the cuffed man’s back for one minute and 26 seconds after he was wheeled back to his cell from the infirmary, newly released court records show.
Richard Fatherly was charged last month with second-degree murder and an alternative count of involuntary manslaughter in Charles Adair’s July 5 death in the Wyandotte County
detention center in Kansas City, Kansas. Adair had been arrested one day before his death on misdemeanor warrants for failure to appear on multiple traffic violations.
“The newly released affidavit confirms that Charles Adair was handcuffed, lying on his stomach with a severely injured leg, and posed no threat when a deputy pressed a knee into his back, resulting in his death," Ben Crump, an attorney who is representing the family, said in a news release Friday.
Fatherley has received a summons calling for him to appear in court next month but has not been booked into jail. His attorney has said he acted reasonably and will pursue an acquittal.
At the time, Adair's leg needed to be amputated and was so badly infected that he was taken straight to the hospital, a Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent wrote in the affidavit. The court records were released this week following a request from The Associated Press and other news outlets.
Before Adair was cleared to return to the jail, he was diagnosed with a type of bone infection that sometimes develops in people with diabetes. A medical screening also found he was schizophrenic, the affidavit said.
After having his leg rewrapped the following evening, he got into an argument with the deputy who was returning him to his cell. Adair ultimately threw himself out of the wheelchair, the affidavit said.
During interviews, several deputies described Adair as incoherent. One believed the infection from his leg was affecting his brain, the affidavit said.
Adair was handcuffed with his arms in front. Once he was back in his cell, he was placed on his stomach on the bottom bunk, with his legs and knees on the ground. He could be heard yelling “Help!” repeatedly, the affidavit said.
Fatherly then appeared on video, telling him, “You're done” as he placed his left knee on the lower part of Adair's back. Adair responded with “OK” and pushed his arms forward. Just as Adair ceased moving, Fatherley shifted his weight forward, appearing to apply more weight on Adair's lower back, the affidavit said.
The autopsy listed Adair’s manner of death as homicide, and his cause of death as complications from “mechanical asphyxia,” a condition in which breathing is obstructed.
The sheriff’s office has declined a records request from The Associated Press seeking the body camera video that state investigators reviewed. Crump and another civil rights attorney, Harry Daniels, were allowed to view the video and have demanded that it be released publicly.
They also raised questions about why Fatherley remains free while Adair was jailed over traffic violations. “Because of the color of your skin, a traffic violation should not equal a death sentence,” Crump said at the news conference last week.
Fatherley’s attorney, James Spies, said last month that Adair’s death was “a tragic accident” but was not a result of Fatherley’s actions.
