An Inmate Called for Help Four Times. A Man Was Being Beaten to Death. Nobody Came for 45 Minutes.
Messiah Shanks was watching a movie on his tablet when he heard it — punches echoing through the pod, a man groaning. He moved to the door of his cell on the 12th floor of the Oklahoma County Detention Center and picked up the emergency phone. It was 1:30 a.m.
As Jennifer Palmer and Brenna Witchey reported, Shanks called four times over the next 45 minutes while Clinton Pike was beaten to death two cells away. The jail’s phone operator, Debbie Binkley, told Shanks that sight checkers would be coming by. Investigators later alleged she never notified anyone. She has since been charged with second-degree manslaughter; her attorney has requested a hearing to assess her competency…