Homeless Black Man Dies While Immobilized in Restraints at Fla. Jail

A homeless man died while immobilized in restraints at the Duval County Jail. Police said the 29-year-old man, Ezra Jones, was struggling with corrections officers following his arrest Sunday for lying across a sidewalk. After his arrest, officers put the inmate in a restraint chair and outfitted him with a spit mask after a struggle in which pepper spray was used, Corrections Director Gordon Bass said Monday.  The struggle happened as officers tried to take the man's fingerprints and he refused to loosen his fists, police union President Nelson Cuba said. The inmate wasn't breathing and had no pulse when a mental health nurse went to evaluate him after he spent 40 minutes in restraints, Bass said. Corrections personnel freed the man's body and began CPR, but the man was pronounced dead at a local hospital. An autopsy was unable to immediately determine a cause of death and authorities won't know what killed the man until toxicology test results are back, officials said. The death was the second in three days of someone in police custody. Sammy Lee Evans, 49, died Friday during an arrest for public drinking across from his Eastside home. [more] and [more]