In the middle of America, being great once again, a legal phenomenon has occurred in Kansas City, Kansas, in the backdrop of a local tragedy. On Sept. 23, the Adair family’s attorneys reviewed body camera footage of the tragic death of Charles Adair while he was in custody at the Wyandotte County Jail. He was arrested on July 4 on a misdemeanor traffic warrant. The next day, he was dead.
Charles, a man in his 50s, suffered complications from diabetes and had been advised by doctors to undergo a leg amputation, which had not yet taken place. He was receiving treatment in the jail’s infirmary when a reported dispute occurred. During the altercation, Adair threw himself to the ground, prompting deputies to intervene and transport him back to his cell in a wheelchair.
Once inside, deputies attempted to uncuff him while he lay face down on the jail bed. At this moment, Deputy Richard Fatherley, a detention officer, placed his knee on Adair’s upper back and neck to pin him down. As Adair cried out in pain and distress, deputies stood by without intervening. His pleas went unanswered. Despite Adair’s frail condition, deteriorating leg and the fact that he was already handcuffed, Fatherley kept his knee pressed against him, and doubling down until Adair could no longer breathe — 1 minute and 26 seconds, just a few seconds shorter than the time it took to kill George Floyd…