DENVER – A jail inmate choked on his own vomit and suffocated while being restrained by Denver sheriff’s deputies during a psychotic episode, according to an autopsy report released Friday.
Michael Marshall, 50, died from “complications of positional asphyxia” after the Nov. 11 incident, and the death is a homicide, the Denver medical examiner’s office said. His family removed him from life support nine days later.
Six deputies remain on restricted duty after the death, the latest problem for an agency trying to reform after a series of misconduct and excessive force allegations.
Deputies restrained Marshall in a prone position for several minutes after he became aggressive toward another inmate, refused to follow commands, tried to leave through a doorway and became combative, according to the autopsy report, which offers the first detailed description of the encounter. Marshall resisted, even after deputies put him in wrist and ankle restraints and covered his face with a spit mask.
Paramedics were called after Marshall had a heart attack and became unresponsive. They took him to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with brain injuries because of a lack of oxygen, respiratory failure and other problems. Heart disease and emphysema also contributed to his death, the autopsy report stated.
Marshall’s family is “outraged and devastated” by the autopsy report and urged prosecutors to charge the deputies, said their attorney, Mari Newman.
Police and prosecutors continue to conduct a criminal investigation, sheriff department spokesman Simon Crittle said.
Marshall, who had a history of mental illness and drug abuse, was arrested Nov. 7 on suspicion of trespassing and disturbing the peace at a motel where he had been staying. At the time of his death, he was 5-foot-4 and 112 pounds.
The case comes a year after a federal jury awarded a record $4.65 million to the family of a homeless street preacher who died in the Denver jail in 2010. Deputies shocked him with a stun gun while he was handcuffed, put him in a sleeper hold and lay on top of him, apparently in an effort to control him. The ensuing $6 million payout to Marvin Booker’s family was among the largest in Denver’s history.
The department is trying to make sweeping reforms after that case and other costly excessive force cases, which led to the sheriff’s resignation. A pair of national consulting firms produced a 300-page report pointing to a wide range of problems, including deputies’ use of force.
Marshall’s death is the first test for Sheriff Patrick Firman, a longtime Illinois corrections official appointed in October to head up the roughly 890-member department that oversees Denver’s jails.
