Jamal Sutherland Death Sparks Protests By African American Communities Across South Carolina And The Nation

Protests in Charleston continue in conjunction with others around the state and country demanding justice for Jamal Sutherland and other vulnerable Blacks killed by police officials. Sutherland, a mentally Ill patient, died January 5 while being taken from a cell at the Al Cannon Detention Center in North Charleston to a bond hearing. His death is among the latest in a series of questioned incidents involving police conduct that provoke demands for police reform.

Charleston activist and former city council member Kwadjo Campbell said Sutherland’s death is among many in a revolving door of incidents involving police and vulnerable Blacks who end up dead at the hands of police authorities. “Unless there is policy change, these types of homicides will happen over and over again. We need criminal justice and economic justice reform,” Campbell said. He admonished, “People of color in victimized communities must be prepared for sustained action that include protests and economic activism.”

Sutherland was in jail because of an incident at a behavioral health center in which he was accused of committing "a misdemeanor offense of simple assault on a nurse staff member," according to his family’s attorney Mark Peper. Sutherland was being treated at Palmetto Lowcountry Behavioral Health, a mental health facility, when a fight broke out January 4.

The incident that ended in Sutherland's death took place the next day on January 5.

Sutherland died after he was forcibly removed from his jail cell. Video footage released last week shows two detention center officers pepper spraying and tasing 31-year-old Sutherland multiple times. At the beginning of the footage from one of the body cameras, a deputy is heard saying Sutherland has refused to leave his cell and that he took "an aggressive stance."

The video shows deputies asking Sutherland to put his hands through the cell door so he could be handcuffed and taken to court. About 15 minutes pass before a deputy deploys pepper spray into Sutherland's cell. Deputies soon unlock the cell door and tase Sutherland. Sutherland is ordered to "slide to the door" and "get on your stomach."

Video shows him sitting down and inching toward the door. The deputies enter the cell to cuff Sutherland and one tells him not to resist. Deputies try to handcuff Sutherland with his arms behind his back and a deputy says "loosen up" before using his left hand to force Sutherland to the ground. The sound of a Taser is heard again as Sutherland cries out. He's seen flat on the ground. A male deputy has a knee on Sutherland's back between his shoulder blades while a female deputy sits on his lower back, a knee on each side of Sutherland. Sutherland is eventually handcuffed and slid out of his cell into a common area where deputies remove Taser barbs from his front and back and lift a motionless Sutherland into a nearby wheelchair.

Although the incident occurred in January, it’s only been in the past several weeks mounting protests produced video recordings. The victim’s mother Amy Sutherland this week said, ““We were asking questions from day one. No answer. It just went away. One day people said they were going to march and something was done that should have been done a long time ago. I think people tried to cover up everything that happened with my child,” Sutherland said. “But once politics gets involved, and you can’t sit comfortably in your office anymore, then action has to be taken. So that’s the only reason they took action.”

A month ago various activists groups that individually had been protesting the incident began to unite efforts. In a joint statement issued April 16 they said, “The case of Jamal Sutherland is tragic and highlights the need for criminal justice reform particularly in the area of mental illness in jails and prisons. As America awaits justice in the case of George Floyd, we see Charleston’s law enforcement culture is no different.”

In the wake of the protests Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano last week fired the two detention center officers involved. Ninth Judicial Circuit solicitor Scarlett Wilson issued a statement saying she will decide if the officers will face criminal charges next month.

Charleston Sen. Marlon Kimpson who several years ago began a campaign to insure adequate health care treatment for inmates in the state’s jails and prisons said 2019 legislation filed after the 2018 drowning deaths of two Horry County female inmates being transported during a flooding episode fell on deaf ears. Instead of meds inmates get corporal punishment, he said. “Inmates facing mental health challenges don’t have lobbyists,” he said.