District Attorney Still Considers Criminal Charges in DeKalb County Taser Deaths

The Internal Review Board cleared the unidentified officers involved in the taser-related deaths of Audrecas Davis and Sukeba Jackson-Olawunmi.

Prosecutors are still reviewing the cases to determine if criminal charges will be filed agains the officers.

Davis' family is reviewing the reports and trying to determine whether they should file a lawsuit.

The board, which is made up of investigators, reviewed the evidence and voted unanimously to clear all of the officers involved. The board voted that no policies or procedures were violated, and there were no safety concerns in either incident, according to the report. [SOURCE]

"As chief of police, I stand behind the use of the Taser as an alternative to deadly force. While both of these incidents were extremely unfortunate in that they resulted in death, I know my officers followed the proper protocols," Chief William O'Brien said.

Villagers recall that the DeKalb medical examiner ruled the deaths of Davis and Jackson-Olawunmi as homicides. Both died in separate incidents in May after being repeatedly tased by DeKalb officers. Police said both were combative and failed to comply with officers' commands during the incidents.

Autopsies found that Davis and Jackson-Olawunmi were under the influence of drugs and had prior medical conditions, including obesity, medical examiner Pat Bailey said.

Davis, 29, died May 10 from cardiorespiratory arrest and had caffeine, nicotine and chemicals found in marijuana in his system. He also suffered from hypertension and sickle cell disease, according to the medical examiner.

Jackson-Olawunmi, 40, died May 15 of a cocaine-induced delirium, the medical examiner said. In addition to cocaine, she had blood pressure medication in her system to treat her hypertension.

Both of these people would be alive today if not for the repeated jolts of taser voltage into their bodies.

Taser Autopsy: Death of Sukeba Jackson-Olawunmi is Ruled a 'Homicide'

DeKalb County medical examiner Pat Bailey ruled that the death of Sukeba Jackson-Olawunmi was a homicide and the use of a Taser was one of several contributing factors. [SOURCE]

Other factors that contributed to death were drugs, prior medical conditions and obesity.  Jackson-Olawunmi, 40, died of a cocaine-induced delirium. In addition to cocaine, she had blood pressure medication in her system to treat her hypertension.

Physical exertion and morbid obesity also contributed to his death; Jackson-Olawunmi was 359 pounds when police used their taser on her.

“If you remove the Taser, you can’t say [she] wouldn’t have died anyway,” Bailey said.

Jackson-Olawunmi died May 14 after a Taser was used on her four times. Police were called to a Clarkson apartment complex after neighbors reported she was frantically shouting that someone was trying to kill her, according to witness statements. She kicked in several doors before falling off a second-floor balcony.

Police arrived to find Jackson-Olawunmi stealing a car and attempting to flee, the report stated. A Taser was used on her after she refused to surrender and fought officers. She remained violent until police used the Taser against her side. Thirty seconds later, she became unresponsive. She was pronounced dead 30 minutes later.

The next step in this process rests with the prosecutors. They need to review the autopsy report and decide whether or not to bring criminal charges against the taser-wielding police officers for their role in this homicide.