By Bob Walsh
The state of Missouri is about to pay $9 million to the family of a 20-year old man who drowned while in state police custody.
The dead guy, Brandon Ellington, was arrested by the state police for drunken boating on the Lake of the Ozarks in May of 2014. He was handcuffed and sort-of put in a life jacket. I have personally never tried to put a life jacket on a person wearing handcuffs but I expect it is pretty near impossible to do correctly unless the life jacket is made specifically for that purpose.
In any event at some point Ellington went overboard. The life jacket came off him. He drowned. The family sued. They got $9 million dollars. The trooper involved has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and is on unpaid leave pending trial.
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