‘ENTIRELY AVOIDABLE’

No Charges for Deputies Who Repeatedly Tased a Mentally Ill Black Man Before His Death

“I can prove what they did. I cannot prove their criminal intent,” prosecutor Scarlett Wilson said Monday.

Jail deputies in Charleston won’t face charges in the death of Jamal Sutherland, a mentally ill Black man who was tased at least six times before he perished at the Al Cannon Detention Center. The news was announced Monday by 9th Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, who said she could not “prove their criminal intent.” Sutherland died on Jan. 5 after being forcibly removed from his cell for a bond hearing by two Charleston County sheriff’s deputies, Brian Houle and Lindsay Fickett. In a report on Sutherland, Wilson conceded that the 31-year-old’s death was “entirely avoidable.” “With better treatment, care, and concern by all the institutions involved, Jamal Sutherland would not have died the way he did on January 5,” it read. Footage taken during the encounter shows deputies shock Sutherland repeatedly with a stun gun. Houle can be heard telling medical staff that Sutherland got tased “probably six to eight times at least.” Fickett was also seen kneeling on Sutherland’s back. The two were fired by Sheriff Kristin Graziano back in May.