Family Wants Answers After Nigerian Student Dies In US Police Custody

The family of a 22-year-old Nigerian student, Matthew Ajibade, who died in US Police custody reportedly want detailed information regarding their son’s death.

Savannah Morning News reports:

Chris Oladapo got the worst phone call he could imagine Friday: His younger brother had died in a restraining chair at the Chatham County jail, the caller told him.

The sheriff’s office announced last week that Matthew Ajibade, a 22-year-old local artist and student who suffered from bipolar disorder, died after being placed in isolation after a scuffle with deputies.

“We want to know why,” Oladapo, 26, said Tuesday, flanked by family and friends in Wright Square. “Why is a young, creative soul leaving us so early?”

At the request of the sheriff’s office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is probing the death of Ajibade, who had been arrested by Savannah-Chatham police for battery after they were called to a domestic incident.

An attorney for the family, Mark O’Mara of Orlando, Fla., said they want the investigation to be done fairly and in a transparent manner.

“There’s no blame yet,” said O’Mara, who represented George Zimmerman in the 2013 trial over Florida teenager Trayvon Martin’s shooting death. “There are just a lot of questions.”

Oladapo and O’Mara said they want to know why Ajibade wasn’t taken to a hospital instead of jail. Police were called by Ajibade’s girlfriend, O’Mara said, and added that she told them he needed to go to the hospital.

In a preliminary incident report on the arrest, police say both Ajibade and his girlfriend declined medical treatment at the scene and make no mention of a request that he be taken to a hospital.

Police say they were called to the intersection of East Duffy and Abercorn streets about 6:15 p.m. Thursday to respond to a domestic incident in which one person was chasing another.

There, officers saw Ajibade and a woman standing together with a blanket over their heads, according to an incident report. Ajibade was holding the woman tightly, but she removed the blanket as police approached, the report read.

An officer saw the woman’s face was bruised and her nose was bleeding. Police say they told Ajibade to release the woman, but he refused even after several commands were given. When an officer tried to pull them apart, Ajibade “started to resist apprehension in a violent manner, and was taken to the ground, so that he could be handcuffed,” according to the report.

Police say Ajibade continued to resist arrest while on the ground of a parking lot at a convenience store in the 1500 block of Abercorn. Two sergeants came to the scene and medics were called, but both the woman and Ajibade — who police say was not injured — refused treatment.

The woman told police Ajibade had been acting strangely all day, but she did not say why she thought she had been attacked. Police said Ajibade was the primary aggressor, and he was charged with battery under the Domestic Violence Act and obstruction by resisting arrest.

The woman gave police a plastic prescription bottle, labeled as Divalproex, that contained pills. The drug is typically used to treat certain types of seizures or bipolar disorder.

Police took Ajibade to jail.

Wayne Wermuth, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said last week that Ajibade arrived at the jail at 6:40 p.m. He was placed in an isolation cell because he became combative with deputies while being booked and his behavior was deemed dangerous.

Wermuth said a female sergeant suffered a concussion and a broken nose and two male deputies suffered injuries consistent with a fight.

While performing a second welfare check on Ajibade, jail staff found he appeared to be nonresponsive. Medical staff started CPR and administered defibrillation while preparing to take Ajibade to Memorial University Medical Center, but efforts to resuscitate him were not successful, Wermuth said.

Ajibade’s cause of death will not be released until an autopsy, lab results and the GBI’s investigation are completed.

O’Mara said the autopsy was completed Tuesday.

Ajibade, who was born in Lagos, Nigeria, studied film at the Savannah College of Art and Design before deciding on computer science and switching to Savannah Technical College, his brother said.

He owned a print design company called Afridale and dabbled in fashion photography both professionally and as a hobby, Oladapo said. The brothers had planned to start an organization, Made in Africa, this year and had been designing an app.

Ajibade was often known by his “creative alter-ego,” Matt Black, said Oladapo, who was wearing a shirt designed by his brother.

“Matthew was going places, and they were good places,” O’Mara said. “And we need to know why he’s never going to get there.”