Feds Announce No Charges In 2015 Death Of Inmate

BEACON, NY — No criminal charges will be pursued in the 2015 death of a Fishkill Correctional Facility inmate. Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Joon H Kim said 30-year-old Samuel Harrell, an inmate at the Beacon facility, died April 21, 2015, following an altercation with correctional officers. Kim met with Harrell’s family and their representatives Wednesday to inform them of the decision and to express his deep sympathy for their loss.

Kim said, after conducting a thorough and independent investigation, career prosecutors determined that there is insufficient evidence to meet the high burden of proof required for a federal criminal civil rights prosecution. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

He said to prove a violation of the federal criminal civil rights statute, prosecutors must establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a law enforcement officer willfully deprived an individual of a constitutional right, meaning that the officer acted with the deliberate and specific intent to do something the law forbids.

Neither accident, mistake, fear, negligence nor bad judgment is sufficient to establish a federal criminal civil rights violation, Kim said.

The Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office also found there was not enough evidence to meet the high burden of proof necessary to support a prosecution under any state theory of homicide. Although there was a physical altercation with corrections officers, a homicide prosecution would require that death occurred due to an intentional, reckless or criminally negligent act.

Any state law theory would require a direct connection between any injuries inflicted by the officers and the death of Harrell.

Kim said the findings of the autopsy found no such connection.

The evidence developed during this investigation revealed the following:

Mr. Harrell resided in Building 21 of the Fishkill Correctional Facility, which contains housing units for inmates, including inmates with mental health issues. On the evening of April 21, 2015, Mr. Harrell packed his personal belongings and told corrections officers that he was leaving the facility. Mr. Harrell had not yet completed his term of incarceration. A call was placed to the mental health unit for assistance. Mr. Harrell then ran from his housing unit and attempted to exit the facility. Mr. Harrell ran head-first into a locked exit door before a group of corrections officers used physical force to apprehend and handcuff him. Mr. Harrell was over 6 feet tall and weighed approximately 240 pounds.

There is no video evidence of the altercation between Mr. Harrell and the corrections officers and numerous eyewitness accounts of the incident, including those provided by inmates, are inconsistent and contradictory. After the altercation, Mr. Harrell and several officers were taken to the facility’s medical unit. One officer was transported to the medical unit on a stretcher and later treated at a hospital for bruised ribs. A group of officers transported Mr. Harrell to the medical unit in a wheelchair. Mr. Harrell had a faint pulse upon arrival, but shortly thereafter, his pulse could not be detected. Medical staff attempted to resuscitate Mr. Harrell. Mr. Harrell was transported to St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital, in Orange County, where he was pronounced dead.

The Orange County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on April 22, 2015. The Medical Examiner concluded that, although the manner of death was noted in the report as “homicide,” the cause of death was “cardiac arrhythmia due to hypertensive cardiovascular disease following physical altercation with corrections officers.” In addition, the Medical Examiner found that Mr. Harrell suffered from cardiac hypertrophy, or an enlarged heart. No bone fractures or other serious injuries were found. While the Medical Examiner identified soft-tissue injuries on Mr. Harrell’s arms and legs and one soft-tissue injury on the front of Mr. Harrell’s head, there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that these injuries resulted from the use of excessive force. The Medical Examiner found no indication that Mr. Harrell was asphyxiated, and confirmed that none of the injuries, singularly or collectively, were a direct cause of Mr. Harrell's death.

In light of the absence of video evidence, the inconsistent eyewitness accounts, and the inconclusive medical evidence of excessive use of force, the Department of Justice could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any corrections officer willfully violated Mr. Harrell’s constitutional rights.

This Office analyzed these issues under the standard applicable to criminal cases, which is proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The Office expresses no view regarding any claims made against any party under the standard applicable to civil cases, which is proof by a preponderance of the evidence.

Accordingly, this Office’s investigation into Mr. Harrell’s death has been closed.

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