GEORGIA JAILERS FOUND NOT GUILTY OF KILLING PRISONER

Matthew Ajibade, a Nigerian, died in a Georgia jail after being kicked in the head, tasered in the groin and strapped in a chair with a spit mask covering his mouth, and left unattended for an hour-and-a-half

On New Year’s Day, Matthew Ajibade, a 21-year-old Nigerian college student, was having a manic episode caused by his bipolar disorder. His girlfriend called the police, explained what was happening and gave the cops a bottle of his bipolar medicine. But instead of taking him to a hospital, the cops took Ajibade to the Chatham County (Georgia) jail charged with domestic violence, battery and resisting arrest.

At the jail, Ajibade hit his girlfriend and got into a fight with some jailers. One jailer received a broken nose. When the jailers put him down to the floor, he continued to struggle until he was kicked hard in the head. He was then strapped in a chair with a spit mask covering his mouth. He was tasered in the groin while strapped in the chair. Then he was left unattended in an isolation cell for an hour-and-a-half. When jailers went to check on him, they found Ajibade dead in the restraining chair, still wearing the spit mask.

In June, the medical examiner ruled Ajibade's death a homicide, citing abrasions, scrapes and bumps on his upper body and blunt force trauma to the head.

Nine jailers were fired in May for their part in this incident. Deputies Jason Kenny and Maxine Evans, along with jail nurse Greg Brown, were charged with involuntary manslaughter. Kenny, who tasered Ajibade, was also charged with aggravated assault and cruelty to an inmate. Evans and Brown were also charged with reckless conduct for failing to check on Ajibade’s condition.

A jury recently cleared Kenny and Evans of the involuntary manslaughter charge. Kenny was found guilty of cruelty to an inmate. Evans was found guilty of public records fraud and three counts of perjury for giving false testimony to the grand jury about the restraint chair log. The manslaughter charge against Brown had been dropped, but he was found guilty of making a false statemrnt.

The Ajibade family has filed a civil lawsuit against the county and the deputies involved in the incident. The family is represented by Mark O’Mara, the lawyer who represented George Zimmerman in the Travon Martin case.

Now those jailers had every right to be royally pissed off. After all, Ajibade was fighting them and had broken one jailer’s nose. But that did not give them the right to kick him in the head and taser his balls while he was strapped in a restraining chair. Kenny and Evans are very lucky that a jury saw fit to acquit them of the manslaughter charge.

There was no public outcry after Ajibade’s death or after the jury cleared Kenny and Evans of manslaughter. And where was Al Sharpton? Oh, I forgot to mention that Maxine Evans is black. Apparently black lives do not matter if a black cop kills a young black man.