Grand jury expected to review probe of 6 former Georgia sheriff’s deputies fired after man’s in-custody death, source says

By Nick Valencia, CNN

(CNN) — Prosecutors investigating six former Georgia sheriff’s deputies fired for their involvement in the death of a man being held in a county jail last year will present the case in front of a grand jury in the coming weeks, a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN.

The deputies were terminated after the November in-custody death of 38-year-old Terry Lee Thurmond, who was being held at the Clayton County jail south of Atlanta. The county medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide.

The Clayton County district attorney’s office, which has been investigating the case for several months without public comment, likely will bring the matter to a grand jury by the end of June, the source said.

Surveillance video of the November 28 incident shows deputies appearing to try to stop Thurmond from falling from the jail’s second floor. A violent struggle ensues, which ultimately resulted in Thurmond’s death.

Thurmond died just one day after he was arrested and held on suspicion of criminal trespassing at an airport and just over an hour after his encounter with jail employees, according to a review of the video and records obtained by CNN.

Less than a month later, the sheriff’s office announced it had terminated some of its employees following an investigation into Thurmond’s death.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has concluded its probe of the case and handed the case over to the Clayton County district attorney’s office, agency spokesperson Nelly Miles told CNN on Friday.

This was the first time the GBI acknowledged publicly that it had concluded its investigation.

“The GBI doesn’t make recommendations in these types of investigations. The agents gather all the facts and give the full case file to the DA for the next steps,” Miles said.

Additionally, the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council is investigating former Clayton sheriff’s deputies Ellonte Johnson, Randy Gaddy, Dionte McCauley, Fred Denson, Derrick Doyle and Danilo Jones, the council told CNN.

Those ex-deputies are the same former officers who are being investigated by the Clayton County district attorney, a second source with knowledge of the DA’s probe said.

This is the first time the deputies have been named publicly. The training council’s investigation is “independent of the criminal process” and relates to whether the former deputies would retain their accreditation to work in law enforcement in Georgia, council Deputy Executive Director Chris Harvey told CNN.

CNN sought comment from the six former deputies but did not receive a response.

What the video and records show

Jail surveillance footage provided to CNN by an attorney representing Thurmond’s family, as well as a timeline of the video compiled by the medical examiner’s office, provide insight into the events leading up to Thurmond’s death.

The video begins around 7 p.m. on November 28, and shows Thurmond maneuvering under some railing and appearing to try to throw or move himself over the edge of a second-floor walkway inside the jail, about 8 to 9 feet off the ground floor.

At least two other inmates intervene, appearing to attempt to stop Thurmond from falling, at which point several sheriff’s deputies can be seen responding.

The video appears to show officers and inmates holding onto Thurmond to prevent him from falling. Eventually, they’re able to lift him over the railing and place him on the second-floor walkway.

The timeline document from the county medical examiner’s office said Thurmond continued to be “combative.” Eventually, the video appears to show a deputy using a Taser or similar device on him.

The deputies and Thurmond struggle for several minutes until the deputies gain control of him. At that point, Thurmond is face down and “most/all of the officers appear to be placing their knees and their body weight on him,” according to the medical examiner’s timeline document.

This continues for about 10 minutes, according to the medical examiner’s report and CNN’s review.

An officer close to Thurmond’s head “seems to be placing a knee or knee(s) in Thurmond’s neck/shoulder area,” the timeline reads.

Thurmond’s last noted known movement, according to the medical examiner’s timeline, was at 7:26 p.m., less than 15 minutes after deputies first made contact.

Civil rights attorney Thomas Reynolds, who is representing Thurmond’s family, said Thurmond was left unconscious for at least 15 minutes before being transported by first responders to a hospital. Thurmond was pronounced dead at the hospital, records show.

CNN’s review of the video shows that a first responder began performing CPR on Thurmond about 12 minutes after his last noted movement.

“They suffocated him to death,” Reynolds told CNN. “This is George Floyd 2.0, except there was six of them on top of (Thurmond) for 16-18 minutes and they stayed on top of him well after he was lifeless and stopped resisting.”

A final medical examiner’s report sent to CNN on Wednesday showed the immediate cause of Thurmond’s death to be “sudden death during altercation including prone positioning, physical restraint, and electroconductive device use.”

According to Southern Regional Medical Center hospital records provided to CNN by Reynolds, emergency medical services personnel noted Thurmond arrived at the hospital in “cardiopulmonary arrest” after “apparently trying to commit suicide by jumping off a landing.”

“He was involved in an altercation with officers and was subsequently tased. Patient fell prone and was then found to be pulseless and CPR initiated,” the hospital records read.

Reynolds said he disagreed with the records’ notion that Thurmond may have been making a suicide attempt.

“We also know (Thurmond) had been diagnosed with mental health issues in the past, and I believe they knew or should have known that,” Reynolds told CNN. “I’m not certain I agree with that characterization because the second floor he was on is only about 8 feet high and he had an opportunity to drop from there if he wanted, and he didn’t.”

The attorney said that although it’s difficult to be certain, the video appears to show Thurmond was having some type of mental health episode.

“No matter what, it’s obvious they didn’t handle this situation properly,” Reynolds said.

The case is “in my office and it is an ongoing investigation,” Clayton County District Attorney Tasha Mosley told CNN in an email on Tuesday, adding she couldn’t comment further.

The Clayton County jail has been the focus of several complaints involving violations of detainee’s civil rights in recent years.

In October 2022, former Clayton County sheriff Victor Hill was found guilty on six counts related to incidents in which prosecutors said he ordered detainees to be strapped into a restraint chair and left for hours.

About two years earlier, Hill was indicted on separate federal civil rights charges for directing jail staff to strap pretrial detainees into a restraint chair for an excessive period in four separate incidents in 2020, according to a release from the US attorney’s office for Georgia’s northern district.

In April, US Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia sent a letter to US Attorney General Merrick Garland highlighting substandard conditions and a lack of oversight in America’s prison system. Ossoff included the Clayton County jail as an example of a facility that does not safeguard the civil rights of incarcerated people, according to a copy of the letter obtained by CNN.

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CNN’s Pamela Kirkland contributed to this report.