CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Family members of an Indiana man who died days after an encounter with police during a medical emergency joined their attorney Monday to press for answers.
The family of 26-year-old Rhyker Earl, who enlisted the services of prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, gathered with him Monday at the Chicago Urban League in Bronzeville.
“You see an officer in the video stepping on Rhyker’s back with his dirty boot,” Crump said.
Recently released officer worn body cam footage shows Jasper County Indiana deputies in their response at a home in DeMotte, where they had been called to assist in a medical emergency.
A family member made the call after Earl had several epileptic seizures.
“In minutes of entering the home, a deputy suddenly escalated the situation by charging at Rhyker while cursing and yelling at him ,” Crump added.
Within moments, Earl was handcuffed and face down on the floor, a position, Crump says, that is the most dangerous for someone post seizure.
The Sheriff’s Office issued a statement on Friday, saying that Earl was demonstrating significant resistance and handcuffed for his own safety and that of medical personnel.
Rhkyer’s family says he wasn’t fully aware of what was going on, noting that it takes quite some time to recover full responsive capacity following a seizure.
Earl was removed from the home on a stretcher and died just days later at a hospital.
According to the Center of Disease Control (CDC), nearly three million U.S. adults have epilepsy.
In addition to accountability, the family is seeking systemic change in how law enforcement are trained to respond in epileptic medical emergencies.
“His children will miss him greatly. He won’t be able to attend school functions like daughter-daddy dances, baseball games, proms, graduation, birthday parties, weddings and the all things in between,” said Cassie Paris, the mother of Earl’s two young children.
The body camera footage can be viewed here. Warning: The video contains graphic violence and language.
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