Corrections officers at the Richland County Jail are trained not to restrain inmates when they try to restrain them, a former supervisor testified Friday.
Jamaal O’Dell worked for the sheriff’s office for 20 years and retired as a lieutenant in 2020. He was the supervisor the night of an incident involving inmate Alexander Rios and other corrections officers.
Rios, 28, died after a struggle with several officers after running past them and leaving a cell on September 19, 2019.
One of those officers was Mark Cooper, 57, who is charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of reckless homicide in connection with the incident.
His retrial will take place in regular court. In November, Judge Brent Robinson declared a mistrial after jurors could not reach a verdict on any of the charges.
Cooper, described at the time as weighing 250 pounds, is seen on video placing both feet on Rios’ back and later kneeling on his upper back, near the neck. The state claims Cooper’s actions led to the inmate’s death.
Outside the jury’s presence, Robinson read O’Dell his Miranda rights, even though the state said it does not intend to file any charges against the retired lieutenant.
Former corrections lieutenant watches prison video of struggle
Drew Wood, who represented the state for the Ohio attorney general’s office, discussed a jail video with O’Dell and asked him questions at several points.
Rios was in a cell after he allegedly said he was going to hurt himself. He was in jail on a warrant.
Rios was wearing a suicide smock and standing on a dividing wall as O’Dell tried to get him to comply.
“I spoke with him extensively and decided it was not safe for him to be in that cell,” O’Dell said, adding that he thought Rios may need medical attention because he was behaving erratically.
O’Dell said the goal was to put Rios in a restraint chair. O’Dell began recording on a camcorder, a practice used by local prison guards when they enter a cell.
“We gave him the opportunity to comply first,” O’Dell said.
The video shows Rios rushing past corrections officers and into the booking area. Several of them struggled to restrain Rios during an incident that lasted nearly five minutes.
Late in the incident, Rios reportedly still had his hand on a cuff. Once Rios’ hands were cuffed and his legs shackled, corrections officers told him to stand up.
But by then Rios was soft. The video showed him turning blue.
O’Dell said corrections officers tried to revive Rios with a defibrillator until a team from the Mansfield Fire Department arrived.
Rios was later taken to OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital. His family took him off life support eight days later.
Upon direct examination, O’Dell said no deadly force was used in the struggle. Wood asked him if placing feet on a prisoner’s back is an acceptable form of restraint.
“Not under normal use of force,” O’Dell said.
Lawyer asks about body scanner video
During the afternoon session, defense attorney James Mayer III cross-examined O’Dell, focusing on the body scan video.
You see Rios take something from his prison jumpsuit and then place it behind the scanner. The corrections officer paid no attention to Rios, prompting Mayer to ask O’Dell what should have been done.
The defense theory is that Rios was under the influence of methamphetamine during the fight.
“The officer should have alerted the inmate and asked for another officer or supervisor,” O’Dell said, adding that the furtive movements warranted a search.
Regarding the violent struggle between Rios and corrections staff, O’Dell said he had never experienced such an incident during his two-decade stint in the county jail.
“He (Rios) showed an unusual amount of strength,” O’Dell said. “…He resisted to the end.”
Cooper was not present at the start of the encounter and was subsequently accidentally hit in the hand by a Taser. Mayer seemed to suggest in the deposition that this was the reason the defendant put his feet on Rios instead of using his hands.
In redirecting, Wood referred to O’Dell’s comments about resisting until the end. Wood pointed out that two officers stood by while their counterparts struggled with Rios.
O’Dell had previously said that if Rios had agreed to be “cuffed” while in jail, the fight would never have happened.
Wood asked if it was “kind of stupid” to keep going back, pointing out that if Rios hadn’t been in jail, he wouldn’t have been involved in the incident.
Wood further asked about the jail’s policy regarding the use of deadly force. The policy says deadly force “must be limited to what is known or reasonably known to the officer.”
Because Cooper wasn’t there at the beginning, Wood seemed to imply he didn’t know any details about what led to the fight.
Jurors submitted a few questions for O’Dell. One wanted to know why corrections officers were not allowed to put their feet on an inmate.
“We don’t want to create a situation that causes maximum harm to anyone,” O’Dell said. “If the situation gets out of hand, other tactics may be considered.”
Alexander Rios’ mother acts as a witness
The final witness Friday was Toni Mold, Rios’ mother. She described her son as funny, sweet and kind.
Rios’ struggle with addiction began in high school. The summer before his death, Rios was clean, his mother said, but he seemed “a little different” in the days leading up to his arrest.
After the jail incident, Mold went to the hospital to see Rios, who was hooked up to a ventilator. She said he was unconscious and shaking uncontrollably.
Wood asked her what happened when the family decided to take Rios off life support.
“It gasped for air and then passed,” she replied.
The retrial won’t resume until Tuesday, with the state expected to present its final witness, expected to be lead investigator Eric Lehnhart of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
mcaudill@gannett.com
419-521-7219
X: @MarkCau32059251
This article originally appeared in Mansfield News Journal: Manslaughter trial of ex-Richland County Ohio prison officer continues
