No Charges Over Spring Valley Man's Death At Rockland Jail: NYAG

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — The New York Attorney General's Office will not pursue criminal charges against Rockland County corrections officers over the death of Ferdy Jacinto-Martinez while he was in custody in 2019.

The Special Investigations and Prosecutions Unit released its report into the death of Ferdy Jacinto-Martinez Friday.

“The death of Ferdy Jacinto-Martinez was tragic and we send our condolences to his family and loved ones,” AG Letitia James said in announcing the findings. “We engaged in a comprehensive review of the events surrounding Mr. Jacinto-Martinez’s death and concluded that there was not sufficient evidence to warrant or sustain criminal charges. Nevertheless, we found that some of the actions of the responding officers were cause for grave concern."

Officials at the Rockland County Sheriff's Office said they are reviewing the AG's concerns.

Jacinto-Martinez was taken into custody on the night of July 20, 2019, by the Spring Valley Police Department and was transferred to the Rockland County jail the next day, according to the report.

On July 23, following an incident in which Jacinto-Martinez began acting in an erratic fashion and refused to return to his cell, he was forcibly placed in a restraint chair for about two-and-a-half hours. When his erratic behavior showed no sign of abating, and his mental health seemed to be deteriorating, an ambulance was called to the jail. Shortly after he was forcibly transferred from the restraint chair to a gurney for transport to Nyack Hospital, he became unresponsive.

He never recovered, the AG said. He died on July 25, 2019, in an Englewood, NJ, hospital.

Based on witness interviews, video footage, the opinion of two forensic pathologists, and a review of all the facts and circumstances, state investigators determined that they could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the use of force in this instance was unjustified or the degree to which such use of force contributed to Mr. Jacinto-Martinez’s death, she said.

The report states:

... although the medical examiner who conducted the initial autopsy identified injuries that led him to believe that Mr. JacintoMartinez’s death had been caused by compression of the neck (leading to a fatal heart attack) during that final encounter with the corrections officers, neither the video footage of that encounter nor the testimony of any eyewitnesses to the encounter (including numerous medical personnel) could conclusively support this finding. In addition, an independent forensic pathologist consulted by the OAG reached an altogether different conclusion as to the likely cause of Mr. Jacinto-Martinez death: namely, that his encounter with the corrections officers placed sufficient stress on Mr. Jacinto-Martinez, whose body was in an exceedingly vulnerable condition at the time, to trigger the fatal heart attack. Because it appears questionable whether Mr. Jacinto-Martinez’s death was indeed caused by compression of the neck – which in any event it would be impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt – and because there is no conclusive evidence that the corrections officers otherwise engaged in any criminal conduct in their interaction with Mr. Jacinto-Martinez, the OAG will not be pursuing a criminal prosecution in connection with this matter.

The investigation did reveal some issues of serious concern regarding the actions of the corrections officers involved in the incident and with certain policies and practices generally at the Rockland County Correctional Facility, James said.

Therefore, the AG's office recommended:

• Corrections officers should use both audio and video recording systems whenever a restraint chair is used.
• The Sheriff's Office should provide better training so that corrections officers can identify and properly handle inmates who exhibit certain health issues.
• Officers should be directed not to make contact with inmates’ neck and to ensure that if force is necessary to handle a situation, it is proportionate to the circumstances.

In response to the report, the Rockland Sheriff's Office issued a statement: "Mr. Jacinto-Martinez’s death is a tragedy, and was fully investigated by the New York State Attorney General’s Office, Special Investigations & Prosecutions Unit. All divisions of the Sheriff’s Office fully cooperated with the investigation. The Attorney General’s report did not result in any criminal findings. The Sheriff’s Office is currently reviewing the report and recommendations made by the Attorney General’s Office."