CNN
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The household of a Black man who died in a Memphis jail in October is making a public plea for justice and say they need solutions from authorities and accountability from these accountable.
The household of Gershun Freeman, a 33-year-old who died in custody on the Shelby County Jail, spoke at a information convention Friday. They have been joined by legal professionals, together with Civil Rights legal professional Ben Crump and supporters that included the mother and father of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died three days after Memphis cops repeatedly punched and kicked him after a visitors cease.
Video footage of Freeman’s encounter with corrections officers contained in the jail was made public this month.
The video footage, launched by the Nashville District Lawyer, totals about 13 minutes and exhibits a number of angles of a violent incident between Freeman and a number of corrections officers that led to Freeman’s dying on October 5, 2022.
Freeman had been booked into jail per week earlier than his dying on fees of home violence associated to aggravated kidnapping and aggravated assault, based on the arrest affidavit obtained by CNN affiliate WHBQ.
Within the edited surveillance digital camera video, corrections officers are seen handing out meals to inmates and after they open the door of Freeman’s cell, a unadorned Freeman lunges at officers. The video exhibits a number of officers punching, kicking, and utilizing what seems to be pepper spray on Freeman as as they try and subdue him.
His physique seems to go away a path of unknown fluid on the ground beneath him as he strikes into a distinct hallway. Throughout two separate situations, Freeman might be seen on the ground clinging to the leg of a guard, earlier than getting up and working away.
After officers chase Freeman to a different jail flooring and attempt to restrain him, he seems to swing at an officer. Officers ultimately subdue Freeman, together with by putting a knee on his again, and put him in handcuffs as he was on his abdomen.
A couple of minutes later, when officers attempt to raise him, he seems limp and unresponsive.
Kimberly Freeman, Gershun Freeman’s mom, stated she needs justice for her son, for herself, and for her granddaughter.
“We’ve got to see my son – her father – in a field. We didn’t plan this. My son had a number of desires, a number of admiration, he cared for individuals normally,” she stated. “We would like solutions.”
Freeman’s household and their attorneys are additionally calling on the Justice Division to analyze.
Freeman was bare within the video as a result of he had been underneath psychological well being remark within the jail and was positioned in a suicide watch cell, stated legal professional Brice Timmons, who’s representing the household.
“I don’t know what is going on in America the place regulation enforcement feels they will deal with psychological well being points like prison points. Particularly if they’re marginalized individuals of shade. Particularly if they’re Black males,” Crump stated through the information convention.
A 19-page post-mortem report from the Shelby County Medical Examiner’s Workplace supplied to CNN by affiliate WHBQ says the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation informed their workplace Freeman was concerned in a bodily altercation with corrections officers earlier than collapsing in cardiac arrest.
The post-mortem particulars quite a few contusions on Freeman’s physique, lacerations to his scalp and a number of hemorrhages on his head and neck.
Medical experts discovered the reason for dying to be exacerbation of “heart problems as a result of bodily altercation and subdual.”
The report additionally says “possible psychotic dysfunction” was doubtless a contributing situation to his reason behind dying. The report classifies the dying as a murder, however notes it’s “not meant to definitively point out prison intent.”
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Workplace stated in a Friday assertion that “rapid motion was taken by the Sheriff the night time of the incident in October 2022. Per protocol, DA (Steve) Mulroy and TBI have been contacted that night time to start the investigation,” including that the night time of the incident “all officers who had contact with Mr. Freeman have been relieved of obligation and stay in that standing in the present day.”
“It’s unlucky this case is being tried within the media earlier than the evaluate is full,” Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. stated within the assertion.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident and informed CNN that probe “stays energetic and ongoing.”
The Shelby County District Lawyer’s Workplace has requested the Nashville District Lawyer’s Workplace to analyze the case.
The Nashville District Lawyer’s workplace informed CNN Friday they have been “not commenting on the video at the moment.”