June 16, 2021 - 4:28 PM
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) â A coroner said Wednesday that a mentally ill Black man who died after an encounter with deputies in a South Carolina jail earlier this year likely died of a cardiac event.
Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo O'Neal told reporters that Jamal Sutherland likely died of a fatal dysrhythmia, or an abnormal heart rhythm, after sheriff's deputies attempted to take him out of his jail cell in January. O'Neal changed the manner of death for Sutherland from âundeterminedâ to âhomicideâ on his death certificate earlier this month. âundeterminedâ to âhomicideâ
âJamal mattered, and we need to be complete and thorough and answer all the questions we have," O'Neal said of the monthslong investigation.