The 31-year-old father who was hospitalized after an “incident” in the Duval County jail this week, which Sheriff T.K. Waters has refused to detail, has died, according to his family’s attorney.
Waters has only described it as a “bad” incident. The agency, which has repeatedly touted a commitment to transparency, acknowledged that Charles Faggart was the man at the center of the undisclosed incident Thursday afternoon, one full day after The Tributary and other media outlets had widely reported his identity. The Tributary initially discovered Faggart’s identity in court records.
In response to a records request from The Tributary seeking more information about why Faggart was hospitalized, JSO said it would not turn the records over because they are part of an “active criminal investigation.”
Belkis Plata, the attorney representing Faggart’s family, said in an email statement that the Faggarts know little about why his stay in the jail turned fatal. Faggart, she said, had been brain dead since Monday and died Thursday afternoon.
“Despite Sheriff T.K. Waters’ public statements yesterday claiming transparency and outreach, neither he, his detectives, nor anyone from his office has provided this family with any information about what happened to their son. Not a phone call. Not a meeting. Not an explanation,” Plata wrote. “This family has a right to know what happened to their son — under Florida law, under Marsy’s Law, and under any sense of human decency. Even if Sheriff Waters refuses to share that information publicly, he owes this family the truth privately.”
JSO said in a statement posted on social media Thursday, after Plata’s comments had been published, that its commitment to transparency “does not supersede the agency’s commitment to maintain the integrity of criminal investigations. Once Sheriff Waters has answers, he will provide those answers to the Faggart family.”
Waters allowed a day to lapse between the Monday “incident” that left Faggart hospitalized and apparently brain dead before holding a news conference Tuesday evening publicly disclosing that anything had occurred. Court records show that Waters filed a request after that news conference seeking to reduce Faggart’s bond so that his family could visit him in the hospital room.
JSO’s Thursday statement said Waters “will share the details of this death investigation publicly” once it’s completed. Typically, the State Attorney’s Office ultimately decides whether criminal charges will be filed and releases a detailed report explaining its decision.
Waters announced Tuesday that he’d suspended nine of his jail staff in connection with the incident, though he declined to elaborate on any further details. He later announced on Wednesday that he asked the FBI to “work cooperatively with our detectives concerning the incident that recently occurred in the Duval County Jail.”
Faggart, a local chef known as “Chop it Charlie,” was arrested April 1 on charges of simple assault and criminal mischief, both misdemeanors.
“We know there is video. We know there are witnesses. We know there are answers. And we are demanding them,” Plata said.
Nichole Manna is The Tributary’s senior investigative reporter. You can reach her at nichole.manna@floridatrib.org.
