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Protesters demand criminal charges for Jamal Sutherland’s death in Charleston jail

Shortly after the sheriff fired two deputies involved in the Jan. 5 death of Jamal Sutherland at the Charleston County jail, about 100 protesters gathered in downtown Charleston Monday to demand that the lawmen also be charged with murder.

Standing outside the office of 9th Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson in downtown Charleston, the group held homemade signs and chanted, “Just enough is never enough!”

Charleston activist Justin Hunt, pointing his megaphone at Wilson’s office, paced in front of the courthouse, which was guarded by three deputies who stood silently as he shouted demands for justice.

“I thought your job was to protect and serve, not to kill us,” Hunt yelled, prompting shouts of “yes” and quiet nods from members in the crowd. They marched there from Marion Square, holding handmade signs and chanting phrases like, “No justice, no peace! Prosecute the police!” along with “Mental health matters!”

A 9-year-old girl named Kinsley held up a sign she made with her parents over the weekend. On a white poster board, they drew in marker the outlines of four hands. Inside each hand, the family wrote now-famous words that have been uttered in recent years by Black men who were killed by police, including “I can’t breathe” and “Don’t shoot.”

Inside one of those hands was the last question Sutherland asked on the morning he died inside the Al Cannon Detention Center: “What is the meaning of this?”

Sutherland, who is Black, died Jan. 5 after two jail deputies, Detention Sergeant Lindsay Fickett and Detention Deputy Brian Houle, tried to forcibly remove the 31-year-old from his cell for a bond hearing.

Charleston County Sheriff Kristin Graziano released graphic footage late Thursday showing Sutherland’s death. The release of dozens of videos came after months of mounting public pressure calling for their release.

Sutherland’s death remains under investigation.

What jail videos show

Sutherland was booked into the jail on Jan. 4 after an alleged fight at Palmetto Lowcountry Behavioral Health Center, a mental health facility where Sutherland was receiving care for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He was arrested by North Charleston Police.

During Sutherland’s encounter with the two jail officials on Jan. 5, footage shows he was sprayed twice with tear gas and shocked repeatedly with a stun gun. Sutherland wailed in pain as he lay face down on the floor, at one point screaming for 34 seconds straight.

As Sutherland lay on the floor with deputies on top of him, their knees pressed into his back, Sutherland at one point can be heard saying, “I can’t breathe.” A deputy later estimates that Sutherland “got tased about probably six to eight times at least.”

Christi Wright, 37, marched Monday night, the “Black Lives Matter” flag that she wrapped around her shoulders like a cape, fluttered in the breeze.

When Wright, a licensed counselor and a certified addictions counselor, watched the jail footage, she said she was shocked by how law enforcement treated Sutherland. She has conducted substance abuse counseling at the same jail where Sutherland died.

“We have to speak for those who can’t speak for themselves,” Wright said, explaining why she decided to march. “It’s really important for us to change our policies so that we can make sure people who are relying on us to be protected in situations where they can’t protect themselves are protected.”

A list of demands

The crowd that gathered in Marion Square just after 4 p.m. was the second group that took the streets to demand justice for Sutherland. Earlier in the day, just after noon, the newly formed Justice for All Coalition rallied outside the Charleston County courthouse, where they announced a list of demands prompted by Sutherland’s death.

Their first request called for the officers involved in Sutherland’s killing to be fired, arrested and charged.

The pair of protests marked the first time since the release of the jail death video that activists had taken to the streets. It came days after Amy Sutherland, Jamal Sutherland’s mother, fought back tears at a Friday press conference, where she spoke about how proud she was of her son and urged the media not to make a circus of her son’s death.

“I don’t want any violence in my city,” she said.

Before the march, organizers echoed her calls for peace. Protesters stayed on the sidewalk as they marched down Meeting Street to Wilson’s office before returning back to Marion Square, where activists spoke and later called for a 2-minute moment of silence in memory of Sutherland.

As protesters marched, members of Charleston Police walked nearby on the opposite sidewalk.

A need for policy changes

State Rep. JA Moore, D-Goose Creek, said he felt compelled to participate.

Sutherland and his family, Moore said, are his constituents. Before Friday’s press conference, Moore said he met one-on-one with Sutherland’s mother.

“All he wanted was help,” Moore said, shaking his head.

Change, Moore said, needs to come through policy changes. Before the legislative session ended last week, Moore joined Rep. Marvin Pendarvis, D-North Charleston, in filing a trio of bills aimed at preventing a similar incident from happening.

One of the bills, for example, would call for a mental health evaluation to be conducted before the bond hearing of a person arrested from a mental health facility or institution. It also seeks to prohibit the use of physical force against a person who is mentally incapacitated to attend a bond hearing.

During a press conference Friday evening, Graziano, the sheriff, told reporters that reforms are already underway at the jail following Sutherland’s death in January.

“Since that day, I’ve changed that policy and no longer allow forced bond hearings,” Graziano said.

She also said the jail currently has one mental health professional, adding, “It’s just not enough and we need more.”

Cathy Bennett, 71, joined the line of protesters Monday. Bennett, who lives in North Charleston, said she became more involved in activism after the death last summer of George Floyd.

She said she no longer could be silent.

“When I saw what happened to Jamal, I just kept thinking that every person with mental health is at risk,” Bennett said. “He just deserved so much better.”