Wrongful Death Suit Filed By Family Of Dublin Jail Inmate

DUBLIN, CA — After video was publicly released this fall showing the death of a former Alameda County jail inmate who died in custody in 2018, the law office of John Burris said it is filing a suit on behalf of the man's family.

Dujuan Armstrong, 23, died in custody at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on June 23, 2018.

Burris said the family has not received answers about Armstrong's death, prompting the excessive force and wrongful death lawsuit.

"This mentally challenged young man was asphyxiated, which essentially means that he was suffocated to death," Burris said in a statement. "Given Mr. Armstrong's mental and emotional state, applying the WRAP (a safe-restraint device) was a death trap and even more alarming is
that according to figures maintained by the California Department of Justice, in the last five years, at least 30 people have died while incarcerated in Alameda County."

The Alameda County Sheriff's Office, which operates the jail, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment by Bay City News Wednesday morning.

Burris' law office said the Alameda County coroner's bureau, also operated by the sheriff's office, determined Armstrong died due to "mechanical asphyxia."Burris' office said a copy of the complaint would be made available later Wednesday morning and a news conference will take place at their office in Oakland at 2 p.m.

Video footage of Armstrong restrained at Dublin's Santa Rita Jail was been released by the Alameda County Sheriff's Office in October. The more than 47-minute-long video from a police Axon Body 2 camera shows Armstrong — who was handcuffed behind his back — being further restrained in a body wrap and a spit mask during a struggle with deputies at the jail. The footage is dated June 24, 2018.

In an emailed statement provided to Patch in October, Sgt. Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office said, "This was a very unfortunate and unforeseen circumstance. There was no malice or intent to harm Dujuan Armstrong and our officers were cleared of any criminal wrong doing. We have since removed the body wrap device from our jail and instituted new policies and monitoring procedures to avoid anything like this in the future."

In the video several officers attempt to calm a handcuffed Armstrong as they escort him from cell T25 to another part of the jail. Armstrong appeared to struggle during walk down long jail corridors. The video shows Armstrong on the ground when the extra restraints were put on him by deputies.

Armstrong told deputies he had taken "a little coke, weed, alcohol, a script" when they questioned him about any drugs he was on, the video shows.

About 14 minutes into the footage, a very-still Armstrong is moved to a gurney, and at least one nurse begins to evaluate him, taking his vitals. She eventually reports, "I'm not hearing anything."

At about 20 minutes into the video, jail personnel begin life-saving attempts, and Alameda County Fire Department paramedics arrive on scene and continue working on Armstrong. The video ends at 47:16 minutes.

Armstrong was taken to Stanford Valley Care in Pleasanton, where he was pronounced dead, but his death was not publicly disclosed right away. Kelly said it was because "there are a lot of unknowns we need to resolve and investigate."

Sheriff's officials followed protocols and told the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, the district attorney's office and the coroner's bureau about his death, Kelly said. Armstrong had been convicted of burglary for an offense in Fremont but was considered a low-level offender and was allowed to serve his jail time on weekends, Kelly said.

When Armstrong came to Santa Rita on the night of June 22, which was a Friday, he was "agitated, aggressive and uncooperative," according to Kelly.

A nurse who examined a sample of Armstrong's urine found it contained controlled substances, Kelly said.

The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights had been working with Dujuan's mother, Barbara Doss, who pushed for the video's release.

WARNING: The following video contains disturbing content and adult language.

—Bay City News contributed to this report.