WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT
An autistic teen from Ohio was forcibly restrained, taunted, and manhandled by police while he begged them for help days before he died from a head injury, footage has revealed.
Isaiah Trammell, 19, was arrested in the early hours of March 13, 2023, following a mental health episode, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
When authorities arrived at Trammell’s home in Lebanon, they found an outstanding warrant for a misdemeanor domestic violence offense, and took the teen into custody around 1 a.m., the outlet reported.
Over the next 10 hours, Trammell – who had autism spectrum disorder – was denied repeated requests for a phone call, his medication, and even a blanket, troubling footage from inside the Montgomery County Jail revealed.
“Please let’s talk about this,” Trammell could be heard begging five sheriff’s deputies as they pinned him to the floor of his cell.
“No, there’s no talking,” one deputy snapped as they strapped him into a restraint chair.
Trammell was restrained twice during his jail stint – including one stretch for more than two hours, which is over the time limit set by Ohio law, the Dispatch noted.
Shortly after he was booked, Trammell told the deputies that he wanted to die, and he was placed on suicide watch with a harm-proof blanket in a cell by himself.
“He hated his body to be exposed and he kept telling them. He hated to be confined. Absolutely that would trigger him,” Trammell’s mom, Brandy Abner, told the Dispatch.
The build-up of stress saw Trammell start banging his head, the footage showed.
Head banging is a common stim, or self-soothing behavior, in those with autism, the Dispatch explained. In the past, Trammell’s loved ones did their best to keep him physically safe while he worked through his emotions.
“Like we always call [the police] when he begins to rage. It’s a mental health call, it’s not an ‘arrest me’ call,” Abner said.
Around 4:15 a.m., Trammell banged his head against his cell door so hard that his forehead was swelling, the deputies said.
He was then tied to the restraint chair for the first time, while the deputies could be heard telling the terrified young man that he was “ridiculous,” “embarrassing,” and “acting like an a–.”
The teen was released from the restraints about two hours later. He continued to pace and bang his head against the wall.
Trammell asked the guard for a mat, blanket, a phone call and his medication, but the requests were denied.
Eventually, he started rocking back and forth and shouting “Let me out!”
When the deputies approached his cell again, Trammell could be heard yelling “No, please no!”
“You should have thought, bro. Turn around! Turn around! I said so. Turn around. Lay on your stomach!” one deputy shouted back.
After smacking his head into the concrete wall four successive times, Trammell was placed back in the restraint chair.
“Please, please, please. I’m shaking,” he begged. “Please, I’m in pain.”
Trammell was already unconscious when an ambulance arrived, the Columbus Dispatch said.
His family did not know he had been taken to the hospital, where he died from blunt-force trauma three days later.
The coroner ruled his cause of death a suicide – a decision that Abner wants changed to reflect the torture her son went through.
Earlier this week, the Sheriff’s Office told the Dayton Daily News that the Bureau of Detention had found zero “deficiencies” in how the teen was handled.
The Montgomery County Jail Coalition, however, felt different, and has called on the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to investigate Trammell’s death.
“Isaiah would be alive today had he been treated with dignity and respect in the jail by staff concerned for his health and well-being,” said Yvonne Currington, retired emergency room nurse and Jail Coalition member.
“Instead of listening to his cries for medication he was laughed at and ignored. We need accountability for what happened to him,” she added.