White House talks police reform after release of video of Charleston inmate death

The White House is aware of the death of an unarmed, mentally ill inmate at a Charleston County jail whose Jan. 5 encounter with officers in the minutes before he died was captured on video and released publicly overnight, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.

In response to a question from The State at a briefing with reporters, Psaki she could not speak to specifics of the case because there is an open investigation.

However, Psaki said that President Joe Biden’s “focus and belief is that police reform is long overdue.”

“Far too often, communities of color are living in fear and are exhausted by the threat, and the possibility of, of being in harm’s way and they should not feel that way,” she added.

Sutherland’s family is calling for justice, calling his Jan. 5 death inside the Al Cannon Detention Center in Charleston County a “murder.”

Sutherland, 31, died at 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 5 after he was due in bond court that morning. He had been arrested the day prior at Palmetto Lowcountry Behavioral Health, a mental health facility where Sutherland was admitted for treatment.

Sutherland had previously been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

He was arrested by North Charleston police on Jan. 4, and brought to the jail, where the next morning, officers removed him forcibly from his cell. Videos, including footage from officer body cameras, released Friday by the sheriff’s office, show officers spraying what appears to be pepper spray into the cell. When that did not work, the officers opened Sutherland’s cell, using a stun gun to subdue him and removed him from his cell.

The manner of Sutherland’s death is currently undetermined.

But Charleston County Coroner Bobbi O’Neal said a forensic autopsy determined his cause of death was “excited state with adverse pharmacotherapeutic effect during subdual process.”

Sutherland’s death highlights what many consider to be a failure to properly train law enforcement to deal with people with mental illness.

An effort led by Congress and South Carolina’s Republican Sen. Tim Scott, of North Charleston, to overhaul policing in the United States — called the the Justice in Policing Act — has yet to come to fruition, but the White House appeared hopeful Friday that a package could be finished soon.

Psaki said Biden has set a May 25 timeline to get it done, what is the anniversary of George Floyd’s death.

Floyd, a Black Minnesota man, died in May after a police officer knelt on his neck for longer than eight minutes, cutting of his ability to breathe. The police officer, Derek Chauvin, has since been convicted of murder in Floyd’s death.

“The negotiations and discussions are happening now with one of your home state members, Sen. Tim Scott, along with Sen. Cory Booker and Congresswoman Karen Bass. They’re having discussions, those are ongoing and he is hopeful and looking forward to having a bill to his desk so he can sign it into law,” Psaki said. “But we are very engaged with them and keep abreast of the discussions. But we are leaving it to them to have a lot of the negotiations among themselves, among members.”

Caitlin Byrd contributed to this report.