The autopsy report examining the death of Charles Faggart is complete, according to State Attorney Melissa Nelson’s office, which is investigating the events that led to Faggart’s April 7 hospitalization and the subsequent suspension of nine Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office jail guards.
That report’s findings about what ultimately caused Faggart’s controversial death will prove consequential, so the report’s completion is a significant step. But its conclusions remain a mystery for now. A spokesman for the State Attorney’s Office said the report was exempt from public disclosure while prosecutors investigate whether the force used against Faggart during his time at the jail – including a restraint chair, pepper spray and a stun gun – was legally justified.
The Medical Examiner’s Office also refused to release the report until the investigation is finished.
An attorney for Faggart’s family had no comment.
The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office are also reviewing Faggart’s death, though the scope of that review is unclear.
The Tributary’s search for more about Faggart’s stay in the jail and larger conditions within the troubled facility – which has struggled with safeguarding the welfare of inmates for years – has been stymied for now by an apparent lack of records and slow responses.
To wit, a heavily redacted police report – written by one of the officers whom Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters suspended – said that Faggart was in a restraint chair for at least two hours before he was taken to the hospital and noted that at one point a nurse flushed his eyes with a saline solution, an indication he’d been pepper sprayed.
The Tributary, in an attempt to learn more about the use of those chairs, filed a records request with JSO that asked for documentation of the agency’s use of restraint chairs in the jail over a seven year period. A month later, the records department responded that there were no responsive records to the request.
On April 11, The Tributary filed a records request for copies of emails sent to and from Waters and Undersheriff Shawn Coarsey from April 7 to April 9, which included the date Faggart was hospitalized and the two days following.
Ten days later, the department said that “after a diligent search, our office has located no records which are responsive to your request.”
After The Tributary pointed out that JSO’s response implied the two men had sent and received no emails over the course of three days, the agency invoiced the news organization $180 for the records – which The Tributary paid.
No records have yet been received.
What prompted such severe use of force against Faggart, known by friends and others for having operated a food truck, is unclear but has ignited protests and outraged Faggart’s family. In a news conference held more than 24 hours after Faggart arrived at UF Health in a broken, unresponsive state, Waters announced he’d stripped eight guards and one sergeant of their corrections duties.
Doctors at UF Health who evaluated Faggart on April 7 noted he had multiple fractures on his face and ribs, bruises throughout his body, and serious damage to his kidneys and liver. Doctors also removed a barb from a stun gun in his back – JSO has not disclosed that Faggart was stunned – and noted injuries to his lungs.
Significantly, those UF health records, which The Tributary first obtained, also contradicted the police report about the April 7 incident, which claimed Faggart had admitted to using fentanyl and that an officer witnessed him having a seizure. Instead, UF doctors said a urine test found no evidence of the drug in his system and that there were no signs he’d suffered a seizure.
Nate Monroe is the executive editor of The Tributary. He can be reached at nate.monroe@floridatrib.org.
Nichole Manna is The Tributary’s senior investigative reporter. You can reach her at nichole.manna@floridatrib.org.
