Records show deputy resignation, suspension in inmate death investigation

ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — Internal records show a mentally ill inmate was ignored for several hours ahead of his death, and a Rockdale County deputy commander lied about conducting the required checks on him on the day the man died in his cell.

The records, obtained by Channel 2 Action News and our investigative partners at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and AJC.com, show five deputies fell short of several policy and procedure codes leading up to Shali Tilson's death.

The fallout resulted in one resignation, and several suspensions that averaged one week.

Those records were finalized in April, about a month after Tilson’s death, but just recently obtained through an Open Records Request.

"From day one—from  day one we knew something wasn't right," Tynesha Tilson told Channel 2 investigative reporter Nicole Carr, referencing her son's death. "I'm still trying to process all this information."

The 22-year-old Tilson was arrested on March 3, in his family’s old Conyers apartment complex.

Less than six months earlier, Tilson had returned to Georgia from the family’s native Rhode Island, where he was in school and held an internship with state lawmakers. His father’s second stroke summoned him home.

But Tilson had struggled with his own health issues for years. He was schizophrenic.

An  unhinged man is what body camera footage from the complex to the Rockdale County jail shows, as Tilson rambles on, curses people out and yells number codes in various tones. His family said he was being vocal about police brutality, too.

Tilson was booked and placed under suicide watch, where he routinely banged around his cell.

Records show he was to be checked on every 15 minutes. That didn’t happen on the ninth day of his incarceration, when he’d become unusually quiet, and tried to get deputies to help him by pushing a call button that did not work.

Deputies were checking weather reports, monitoring power outages online and staying at their desks, according the report.

Sgt. Dan Lang would later admit to internal investigators  that he falsified the March 12 suicide watch logs he’d signed off on that evening. The logs falsely stated the required 15-minute checks had been conducted.

Lang, the booking commander,  resigned in April, before the internal investigation was complete. Records show his recommended punishment would have been termination.

Four other  deputies were suspended anywhere from two to ten days, and required to attend additional training for their roles before and after Tilson’s death.

Three deputies—Eric Tolbert, Ladean Shired  and Lt. Jim Bogardts—received roughly weeklong suspensions for not conducting the checks.

A fifth deputy -- Sgt. Christian Klein -- told investigators he wasn’t trained to use his Taser the way he did outside of Tilson’s cell that night. He saw Tilson sprawled across the cell floor, but instead of checking to make sure he was alive, Klein  fired off a taser, hoping the sound would awaken the man.

It didn’t because Tilson wasn’t sleeping. He was dead.

Klein and Lang opened the cell door, and Klein felt Tilson’s cold arm.

“Sarge, I think he’s gone,” Klein told Lang.

An autopsy report indicates Tilson’s cause of death was dehydration, as blood clots filled Tilson’s lungs.

He also had a head injury, cuts on his ankles and feet and red marks on his stomach.

“You have to be delusional to get to the point where you’re not eating or drinking to stay hydrated," the family’s attorney, Mawuli Davis pointed out, noting records that indicate no concern was shown as Tilson’s food was all over the floor.

Soon after protesters rallied around Tilson’s family last spring, Sheriff Eric Levitt encouraged the public to “humble themselves” and “patiently wait,” to let the investigative process play out.

The disciplinary records we obtained this week were signed off in May. There were also six use of force incidents, and video that are a part of the ongoing criminal investigation and not available via public records yet.

“I’m outraged that they all got a slap on the wrist and my son got a death sentence,” said Tilson.

“Every day, I’m trying to find the strength to deal with it, and also find the strength to help my parents,” added Tilson’s sister, Diamond Tilson.

Levitt declined to speak about the contents of the internal report, citing the ongoing criminal investigation in the District Attorney’s office.

The D.A. told our partner's at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution she was still reviewing the GBI investigation, and sent out more of her investigators.

“We’re trying to turn over every stone we can,” said Alisha Johnson. “If that leads to a criminal prosecution, so be it.”

Tilson’s family is planning a Sept. 15 candlelight vigil at the Rockdale County Jail. Davis said Johnson offered her condolences to the family in a meeting over the summer.

They haven’t heard the same from Sheriff Levitt, Davis told Carr.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. What happened to Shali Tilson should not have happened. I’m sorry- they’ve yet to say that and the report says they should have said it long ago,’” said Davis.

“We’ve got to step up when we’re elected officials and people that are in these places of high positions, Davis continued. “We’ve got to step up and say when we’re wrong and something happens on our watch, we just have to own that and accept that and acknowledge that.”

Cox Media Group