33-Yr-Previous Black Man Dies Simply Hours After Being Arrested
Jamaal Byrd, 33, was reportedly arrested on September 30 on suspicion of promoting marijuana at a Washington D.C. restaurant, and simply hours later he was discovered slumped and unresponsive in his jail cell.
Now, activists within the space are demanding solutions as officers examine the tragic sudden demise. Organizers with Black Lives Matter D.C. say Byrd was on his means to enroll in a job coaching program when police took him into custody.
In accordance with the Washington Submit, Byrd was transported to the District’s Central Cell Block within the basement of D.C. Police headquarters, the place he was ready on preliminary listening to in D.C. Superior Courtroom. The choose would’ve decided whether or not he could be free in awaiting trial.
RELATED: Household Calls for Solutions After Military Vet Who Mysteriously Died In Jail Had Mind, Coronary heart, And Throat Eliminated From Physique
Within the report obtained by the Submit, a guard was making his rounds simply earlier than midnight on October 1 when he found Byrd handed out on his mattress. The guard then tried CPR and Byrd was subsequently rushed to a close-by hospital the place he was pronounced lifeless.
Byrd’s mom is asking for solutions, claiming the demise left her household “traumatized.”
“We’d like solutions,” Roxane Johnson, mentioned in an announcement launched by Black Lives Matter D.C. “My son was in nice well being — what occurred to trigger his demise whereas within the custody of the DC Division of Corrections?
“Nothing will carry my son again,” Johnson continued, “however I’m demanding to know what occurred to my son! He meant the world to me and my household.”
It’s been greater than a month since Byrd’s reported passing but officers with the District’s Workplace of the Chief Medical Examiner say the post-mortem outcomes are nonetheless pending.
April Goggans, a lead organizer for Black Lives Matter D.C., launched an announcement in October “demanding public transparency and accountability” within the metropolis’s investigation into Byrd’s demise.