Family of man who died in custody of Madison County Sheriff’s Department seeks answers
The family of Jason Strahan, who died Sept. 16 in the custody of the Madison County Sheriff’s Department, wants to know exactly happened on the night he died.
They say they were told by a county coroner that Strahan was in a state of “excited delirium,” that he tried multiple times to run away from sheriff’s deputies and that he was hit in the back “excessively” with a taser.
To Jami Strahan, the death of her troubled ex-husband was “unnecessary.” He was depressed and used drugs, she said. What he needed in his excited mental state was help, not an electric shock from a deputy’s taser.
“He should have been hospitalized and, even if he went to jail, he wouldn’t be dead,” she said. “He shouldn’t have been tased excessively like that. I don’t think my children had to go through this.”
Macoupin County Coronor Brad Targhetta said he cannot confirm or deny what he told the Strahan family and that, until the results from the autopsy come back, he cannot say what was the cause of Strahan’s death or how many times a taser was used on him. A toxicology report is also pending.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Department would not comment.
Illinois State Police, which is investigating the incident, issued a release to news media last week outlining the events that lead to Strahan’s death.
ISP Lt. Mark Doiron couldn’t provide any additional details. He did say generally, however, that it’s not a law enforcement officer’s call to determine the cause of a person’s behavior, but to react in a way that protects the community. “Erratic” behavior, he said, could warrant the use of a taser.
Either way, Jami Strahan, and Stephanie Strahan Herrington, Jason Strahan’s aunt, say they’ve so far been left with more questions than answers.
Night of the arrest
According to the release from state police, sheriff’s deputies were called to Williamson Avenue and Fourth Street in Williamson at 10:57 p.m. on the report of a man “acting erratically and attempting to damage vehicles.”
Doiron wrote in the release that the man, later identified as Jason Strahan, 41, of Benld, became combative with the deputies during his arrest and that deputies used a taser to subdue him.
Strahan later became unresponsive while in police custody and was taken to a hospital in Macoupin County, where he died, according to the ISP release.
Jami Strahan, who has two children with Strahan, says Coroner Targhetta told her her ex-husband was running away from the police during the arrest while in a state of “excited delirium.” Herrington said she was told by the coroner that police subdued Strahan to arrest him several times and that he broke away each time.
During those moments, he was running away and was tased in the back at least three times, she says Targhetta told her.
“They should have called EMTs and said they needed help,” Herrington said. “It sounds like maybe these law enforcement officers aren’t trained properly.”
What is excited delirium?
In a 2016 study by Deborah C. Marsh, who Targhetta identified to the Belleville News-Democrat as a leading expert on excited delirium, the clinical description of the state includes wild agitation and violent, often destructive behavior that can last for hours to days. Those who suffer excited delirium can go into cardiac sudden death when the mental stress and emotion overwhelm the functions of the brain, the study said.
According to a 2011 study by doctors at the University of Southern California, excited delirium is associated with “the use of drugs that alter dopamine processing, hyperthermia, and, most notably, sometimes with death of the affected person in the custody of law enforcement.” The study also said subjects typically die from cardiopulmonary arrest.
“You see people on TV stripped down because your body overheats in that state and can’t get cool,” Targhetta said in generalizations unspecific to Strahan’s death. “You’re not in your right mind and the brain hasn’t told the body that you’re dead yet.”
Targhetta said to determine whether someone died from the effects of excited delirium, coroners rely on witnesses and police and turn to experts, like Marsh, to study the symptoms.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREHow we did this story
The death of this Benld man is complicated by variables involving mental illness, the effects of long-term drug use, and the process law enforcement officers must go through in determining how to respond on the spot. The BND believes bringing the circumstances to light will help both the family find answers and illuminate the challenges of law enforcement.
State’s attorney to investigate
Doiron said evidence of the Strahan case will be turned over to the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office, which will then decide whether the use of force was appropriate.
Jami Strahan said she and Jason Strahan were romantically involved for 12 years. She said she was the one who pulled her children out of school the next day to tell them the news of their father’s death.
“They are destroyed,” she said. “Their whole world is upside down.”
Sheriff’s Capt. David Vucich would not say if the deputies involved have been placed on leave.
The incident was not Strahan’s first run-in with law enforcement. Just 11 days before his death in police custody, on Sept. 5, Strahan was charged with aggravated battery on a peace officer in Macoupin County for allegedly kicking an officer in the hand.
In the summer of 2015, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor resisting or obstructing a peace officer in Macoupin County.
This story was originally published September 26, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
.jpg)