Grand jury decides not to charge jail officers in the death of Clayton County inmate

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A Clayton County Grand Jury decided to not bring charges in the case against six Clayton County Jail officers after an inmate died.

Jury members decided to return a no-bill on the three-count indictment. The officers were facing involuntary manslaughter charges, reckless conduct, and violation of oath by a public officer.

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Attorney Thomas Reynolds represents Terry Thurmond III’s family. He told Channel 2′s Ashli Lincoln he believes the jury declined filing charges because they feel the blame should be placed on the system and not the individuals.

“I think we’re looking at a situation where poor training, a failure of protocol, and safety measures being in place is what resulted in this action,” Reynolds said.

In surveillance footage from November, you can see deputies struggle with Thurmond on the second floor of the Clayton County Jail. Around 20 minutes later, the 38-year-old was dead, and yellow crime scene tape filled the jail.

It’s what happened in between that apparently led to the firing of several jail employees.

“It was heartbreaking to watch the fact that nobody cared to stop what was happening to Terry,” Thurmond’s mother, Lavoris Thurmond said.

Terry Thurmond was in the Clayton County Jail for a misdemeanor criminal trespass charge. Channel 2 obtained the surveillance video from inside the jail. The video is time-coded.

At around 7:19:20, it appears that around five officers have gained control of Thurmond and he is face down, where he stayed until his death.

Around 7:26:45, Thurmond’s last movement was seen.

The total time is seven mins and 25 seconds according to what is suggested by a timeline that Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne received after an open records request to the Clayton County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Reynolds says Thurmond died after suffocating under the combined weight of the officers on Thurmond while he was face down in the prone position for an extended period of time.

“Five total officers, probably close to 1,000 pounds in weight on top of this guy face down in the prone position,” Reynolds said.

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The medical examiner’s timeline indicates from that same starting point to 7:36, Thurmond’s legs fell with no signs of life, with a total time is 16 minutes and 40 seconds.

“The way they treated him... like he was an animal, or inhumane, or not even important,” Terry Thurmond’s sister said.

The timeline shows from 7:26:45 when Thurmond’s last seen movement happened to 7:39 when the nurse started CPR, was a total time of 12 minutes and 15 seconds.

“My brother was such a loving person and I expect people to give love and to show love and to treat other people like they want to be treated. But it wasn’t that at all,” his sister said.

The incident seemed to have started with an attempt to help Thurmond, who Reynolds said was diagnosed as mentally ill.

The timeline suggests at 7:13:30, “Officers arrive, Thurmond seems to be pushing himself away from the second floor to fall, he seems to be actually pushing more forcibly at this time.”

It appears the struggle to control him near the rail lasts a long time.

Officers appear to lift him back over the rail, but he continues to struggle, backs away, and then works his way back under the rail as officers hold his legs to pull him back up.

In the video, it appears mats were placed on the floor in case he came down and at one point an officer appears positioned possibly to try to catch him if need be.

Reynolds said from watching the video, he’s not sure if Thurmond was trying to harm himself or not.

“It seemed to me he might’ve been trying to swing down to the bottom level as opposed to trying to jump off. He certainly, it appeared to me, would’ve had the opportunity to do that,” family attorney Thomas Reynolds said.

The medical examiner’s timeline also indicates at around 7:17:42 officers fired a stun gun at Thurmond. That seems to be in the period that officers were still struggling with him.

Reynolds said he believes all the officers involved were from the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office, but he’s still waiting on records to identify them.

“He needed help, he didn’t need to be treated like this,” Reynolds said.

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The timeline indicates at 8:12, more than an hour after the incident began, Clayton County Fire Rescue leaves with Thurmond on a stretcher to take him to Southern Regional Hospital, about 15 minutes after the fire rescue’s arrival.

“My thing is, I wouldn’t want this to happen to anybody else’s child or anybody else’s relative or family member. So what changes are we going to bring about so this doesn’t happen again?” Thurmond’s brother-in-law said.

“The Bible says let justice roll down like mighty water,” Winne said to Lavoris Thurmond.

“Like mighty water. And that’s what’s happening here,” Lavoris Thurmond said.

It appears one reason for the delay is deputies may have been waiting on flex cuffs that would fit over a cast on Terry Thurmond’s arm.

Reynolds says Thurmond’s death certificate will read the cause of death was “sudden death during altercation including prone position, physical restraint, and electroconductive device use.” And the manner of the death is homicide.

Chief Deputy Levon Allen said he brought in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to investigate and that all employees directly involved were terminated for policy violations.

Reynolds says Thurmond is now considering pursuing civil litigation in this case.

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