Corrections deputies acted lawfully when they were involved in a March 20 struggle with a jail inmate who later died, according to a written finding by Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Golik.
“The actions of the involved deputies were clearly the type of force ‘necessarily used by a public officer in the performance of a legal duty,’ ” according to the document.
Mycheal J. Lynch, 32, died on March 22, two days after he was restrained by deputies who were trying to relocate him to another part of the Clark County Jail.
Following the death, the Vancouver Police Department conducted an independent investigation and forwarded the material to the prosecuting attorney’s office. Golik reviewed the information and released his findings to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in a report on Aug. 12.
The attorneys representing the estate of Mycheal Lynch said that Lynch’s family was upset that they hadn’t been notified of the prosecuting attorneys findings in a timely manner. They also said they were disheartened to learn that the sheriff’s office didn’t seek an agency outside of Clark County to conduct the independent investigation because of what they call obvious conflicts.
“Clark County has a long history of sending in the fox to guard the henhouse,” said Greg Ferguson, one of the attorneys representing the Lynch family. “However, here they sent the prosecutor himself in. If there was ever a desire for transparency, a true ‘independent investigation’ by an agency outside of Clark County would have been the only reasonable course to take.”
Lynch first came into the jail on March 20 after he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving and hit-and-run of an unattended vehicle.
The Vancouver man was placed into the jail’s medical unit, which houses inmates who need to be isolated for medical reasons separate from mental health problems. He had a large rash on his chest, according to the prosecuting attorney’s report.
Two and a half hours after he was booked, Lynch initiated an alarm, prompting corrections deputies to respond, according to the sheriff’s office.
In the prosecuting attorney’s review of jail surveillance footage, Lynch is seen pacing back and forth repeatedly, waiving his hands about and then removing his shirt. Deputies decided to move Lynch to another area of the jail, the document states.
When deputies entered the cell, Lynch appeared compliant at first. But before deputies were able to handcuff Lynch, he broke free from deputies and ran out of his cell into the hallway, the document states.
“When Mr. Lynch attempts to turn the corner into the hallway, he slips and falls, hitting his head on the floor,” the document said.
Lynch struggled while deputies held Lynch’s hands and feet, and a deputy held Lynch’s head and another deputy used his knee and shin in the small of his back, according to the prosecuting attorney’s findings.
Golik’s conclusion
Golik wrote that the surveillance video does not show any deputies hitting or choking Lynch.
“The facts of this case do not indicate deputies piled on Mr. Lynch in a manner that would have made Mr. Lynch unable to breathe. Rather, the facts of this case indicate the involved deputies used the force necessary to hold Mr. Lynch down while Mr. Lynch struggled with them,” Golik wrote.
The deputies acted reasonably under the circumstances, Golik wrote.
“Obviously, inmates in a custodial jail setting cannot be allowed to run freely about a jail,” the document states.
After deputies held Lynch on the ground for about 7 minutes, they picked him up and put him in a restraining chair, according to the report.
Golik said in his findings that when Lynch was in the chair, his body appeared limp. He remained in the chair for about 4½ minutes before deputies removed him from the chair and began chest compressions, according to the document.
Lynch was then taken to a hospital, where he remained for two days before he died.
The Columbian has requested a copy of the jail’s surveillance footage that captured the incident, as well as the Vancouver Police Department’s investigative materials.
The attorneys representing Lynch’s family said they hadn’t yet received the jail surveillance, a crucial piece to the case.
“The report makes numerous references to a jail surveillance video as the foundation for the opinion that the guards committed no crime. Yet, that video has been withheld from the Lynch family,” said Aaron Ritchie, another attorney representing Lynch’s family. “Citizens as well should have access to the same information that law enforcement evaluates when investigating their own.”
In April, the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that Lynch died of brain damage due to lack of oxygen. The agency linked the death to two things: cardiac dysrhythmia, or an irregular heartbeat, during the struggle, and methamphetamine intoxication.
The agency determined that Lynch’s death was a homicide, which means the death resulted from the deliberate action of another person. That classification does not consider criminal culpability.
In Golik’s findings, he said that the deputies did not exclusively cause Lynch’s death and that at most, the deputies were a contributing factor along with Lynch’s actions and his methamphetamine intoxication.
“Whether application of the legal definition of the term homicide is applicable is not clear in this case,” Golik wrote. “What is clear is that if, in fact, the actions of the involved deputies were contributing causal factors in the death of Mycheal Lynch, such actions by the involved deputies were lawful as excusable homicide — homicide committed by accident or misfortune in doing a lawful act without criminal negligence or unlawful intent.”
Undersheriff Mike Cooke said that no one at the sheriff’s office has seen the complete investigative report, but once it’s received from Vancouver police, an administrative review will follow. If any changes are made to jail policy or procedure, they would come after that review, he said.
“The overriding thing for us is we continue to have a great deal of confidence in the corrections staff and the job they do on a day-to-day basis,” Cooke said.
Attorneys representing Lynch’s family have notified the prosecuting attorney to preserve evidence, which could be used in possible litigation.
