38-year old Craig Prescott, a former sheriff's deputy, died in a taser-related killing back in April 2009 while he was in custody at the Stanislaus County Jail. The original autopsy concluded that the death was accidental. [SOURCE]
The autopsy ruling didn't seem right to Prescott's family. They commissioned an independent autopsy on April 15 by Dr. David Posey (Glenoaks Pathology Medical Center). Dr. Posey's autopsy concludes that the accident was not an accident. This autopsy report says that Prescott died from a lack of oxygen to the brain during a struggle with jailers.
Marilyn Prescott, Craig Prescott's mother, said she believes jail officials subdued her son in a manner that suffocated him, so they are responsible for his death.
"He was deprived of oxygen, so he couldn't breathe," she said. "It just saddens me to read this report, because now I know this was an egregious act."The Stanislaus County coroner's office conducted its own autopsy a day after Prescott's death and released a report of its findings in early June. Pathologist Dr. Eugene Carpenter performed the autopsy under contract with the coroner's office.
Sheriff Adam Christianson has said jail officials followed departmental guidelines in trying to restrain and move Prescott.
In early October, Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager said the jail officials were not responsible for Prescott's death. He died in a Modesto hospital two days after deputies at the jail used Tasers and pepper spray to subdue him when he acted out in their custody.
Fladager's report culminated a six-month inquiry into whether jail deputies acted criminally April 11 in subduing Prescott. She determined they did not, citing a coroner's report that said Prescott died of hypertensive heart disease and determined his death was accidental.
Posey's independent autopsy concluded a different cause of death.
