“Mr. Pace began screaming in pain, gasping for air, and saying, ‘I can’t breathe,’” the lawsuit alleges. “He kept saying, ‘Help me, I can’t breathe,’ over and over.”
The mother a Missouri man who died after being pepper sprayed has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the state Department of Corrections, saying that her son spent hours screaming for help before Tipton Correctional Center officers made any effort to investigate.
According to The Missouri Independent, the lawsuit centers on the 2023 death of Brandon Pace.
Pace, writes the Independent, was involved in an altercation with another inmate on April 7, 2023. Corrections officers intervened, and both men were restrained and taken to separate administrative segregation units.
After Pace refused to surrender what officers suspected was methamphetamine, he was placed in a holding cell and directed to remove his clothes. Pace refused, and officers called a Correctional Emergency Response Team for assistance.
Upon their arrival, CERT officers deployed a small can of “MK-46” pepper spray at close range.
“Mr. Pace began screaming in pain, gasping for air, and saying, ‘I can’t breathe,’” the lawsuit alleges. “He kept saying, ‘Help me, I can’t breathe,’ over and over.”
“The Department of Corrections is duty-bound to protect those individuals like Brandon Pace, who are in state custody,” said attorney Lynn Ellenberger, one of several lawyers representing the Pace family. “They’re obligated to provide for his well-being and for his care, and, in this case, that was not done.”
Pace’s mother, Tammy Reed, was informed of her son’s death later the same evening.
Attorneys for Reed say that their client spent days trying to obtain information about the circumstances of her son’s death. However, even after she retained legal counsel and submitted requests for video footage, “no records were ever produced.”
“There needs to be transparency and independent, outside law enforcement investigations of such deaths in custody—including Brandon’s death—to curb this cruel pattern of behavior,” said Kansas City-based attorney Tom Porto.
Pace, notes AOL.com, is one of about 134 prisoners who died behind bars in Missouri in 2023.
The Department of Corrections have since indicated that it cannot comment on pending litigation. Earlier this year, in response to a similar incident, an agency spokesperson said that the department “take[s] seriously our responsibility for creating the safest environment possible and will not tolerate behaviors or conditions that endanger the wellbeing of Missourians working or living in our facilities.”
“The department has begun implementing body-worn cameras in restrictive-housing units at maximum-security facilities […] to bolster both security and accountability,” the department said at the time.
Sources
New federal lawsuit pins blame for inmate’s death on Missouri prison officials
Son who was shackled and pepper sprayed by Missouri guards died. Mother files lawsuit
Join the conversation!