June 23, 2021 10:10p
(WGTD)---An attorney representing the family of Malcolm James claims the 27-year-old man was tased and beaten to death while in the Racine County Jail, and that his death was not somehow related to him repeatedly smashing his head against jail wall cells.
Speaking from the steps of the Racine County Courthouse Wednesday, attorney Kevin O'Connor released what he said were partial results of an independent autopsy purportedly showing James having suffered injuries related to being tased multiple times. O'Connor said there was no evidence of any head wounds.
Within hours, Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling released jail house video showing James, wrapped in a blanket, repeatedly hitting his head against a wall while jail staff tried to talk to him. The sheriff's department said James died after suffering some type of medical event.
The video clip released Wednesday night stops short of showing jail staff physically interacting with James.
In the video presentation, Schmaling admits for the first time that a taser was used to subdue James, but that he did not die from being tased.
Schmaling initially had said he wasn't going to release any evidence in the case until the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department finished its investigation. But Schmaling said he felt obligated to do so because of what he called serious misinformation being circulated.
James' death was one of two that occurred within four days last spring. Ronquale Ditello-Scott died after he was booked into the jail for OWI.
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