San Jose: A week after inmate dies in jail, investigation continues

[KamaAina]

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_28748054/san-jose-week-after-inmate-dies-jail-investigation

The investigation into the apparent beating death of a mentally ill inmate entered its seventh day as the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office neared a decision on whether to recommend that criminal charges be filed against three correctional officers who had restrained him.

Officials said nothing new Wednesday about the case of 31-year-old Michael James Tyree, whose body was found the morning of Aug. 27 in a sixth-floor cell at the Santa Clara County Main Jail. Potential charges could range from involuntary manslaughter to murder, according to a source.

The cause and circumstances of Tyree's death remained under tight seal by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, but sources familiar with the investigation have told this newspaper that the inmate was "aggressively" handled by the corrections officers, who have been unofficially identified as Jereh Lubrin, Matthew Farris and Rafael Rodriguez...

Tyree apparently suffered serious internal injuries consistent with being hit with a firm object, which could have been a fist, foot or weapon, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation, who added that officers did not report their use of force to jail authorities immediately, as required, or seek medical care for him. They purportedly said afterward that they were trying to get him to take his medication.

Trying to get him to take his medication?! What bridge are they trying to sell me? The nearest one is the Dumbarton up in Menlo Park.

[mackerel]

1. I think the jail guards have since been arrested.

[KamaAina]

2. Indeed they have.

That merited a screaming all-caps front page headline in the cat box liner Mercury News.