Two police jailers in Texas have been indicted on charges of criminally negligent homicide over the death of Jonathan Paul in police custody.
Paul, 42, was found unresponsive in his cell on 12 March, three days after he was arrested by police. An autopsy found he had had been physically restrained and pepper-sprayed before his death, although a medical examiner could not determine a cause of death.
A Tarrant county grand jury indicted one current and one former Arlington police jailer on Monday evening. Pedro Medina was placed on paid administrative leave based on the grand jury’s decision, police said. The other officer involved, Stephen Schmidt, retired from the department in October.
Officers arrested Paul in March after responding to a disturbance call where they found Paul shouting and throwing things out of a window, according to authorities. They took him into custody after learning he had outstanding warrants.
Police said on Monday evening that an internal investigation should be finished within two weeks.
“This has been a difficult case for our community,” said Will Johnson, Arlington police chief. “We promised a thorough and vigorous investigation into this matter. Now that the grand jury proceeding has concluded we are eager to finalize the administrative case and present the findings of the investigation to the family and our community.”
Paul’s family has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit alleging that detention officers used “excessive and undue force by physically restraining Jonathan Paul around the neck and compressing his airways, which caused him to stop breathing”.
