NYDailyNews : Elliott Earl Williams, a 37-year-old veteran who was critically injured and mentally ill, should’ve never been taken to an Oklahoma jail on Oct. 21, 2011. In fact, every local jail in America is woefully unprepared to handle men, women or children with severe mental illnesses or critical injuries. In instance after instance when those who are battling hardships are taken to jails instead of hospitals, criminal abuse, negligence and death are too often the result. Guards, who often lack college educations but who can slam doors shut with the best of them, are a bad excuse for doctors, nurses or mental health counselors. But we already knew this. Here we are, though — stuck in an endless cycle in which African Americans like Natasha McKenna, Jamaycheal Mitchell, Sandra Bland, Gynnya McMillen and Elliott Williams were taken to local jails alive and came out in body bags because of the inhumane indifference to their well-being. When we say “Black Lives Matter,” we utter the phrase because so many of their names and stories speak volumes about a system that often claims otherwise. After a painful day in which Williams was witnessed mumbling to himself, tearing up grass and dirt with his hands, talking out loud to God and randomly throwing food, it was obvious that he was having a mental health crisis. He told police he was suicidal when they arrived. They arrested him and took him to jail anyway. During the arrest, police were witnessed forcefully putting their knee into his spine. Elliott’s father, Earl, said that his son appeared to struggle to walk when they lifted him up and instead let his feet drag. That too, has been seen before. When Baltimore Police arrested Freddie Gray, he was witnessed by a dozen people screaming in pain and unable to move his feet. Baltimore law, like most cities, requires injured people to be taken to the hospital. What happened to Williams between that moment on Oct. 22 and the moment he died five days later is criminal. For days on end, Williams complained to anyone and everyone who would listen that he was critically injured and could no longer move his legs or anything at all below his neck. He urinated and defecated on himself. He writhed in pain and begged every guard and nurse there to take him seriously. They wrapped him garbage bags and dumped him in the shower, where he still did not move, face down in the shower. That was the first day. Morning, noon and night this continued. Nurses and staff put water just beyond his reach to see if he would move to get it. He didn’t. They still claimed he was faking it. On Oct. 23, Williams never moved. On Oct. 24, Williams never moved. On Oct. 25, Williams never moved. On Oct. 26, Williams never moved. On Oct. 27, Williams never moved. In fact, he never moved again, but appeared to have seizures. They claimed he faked them. He screamed for help, begging the staff to “cut it out of him,” and had arm movements that suggested a critical brain injury. Finally, on Oct. 27, officials dragged Williams’ limp body to a holding cell with a camera in it. That is the footage we have included here. Just watch his feet. For hours on end, they don’t move even an inch. Of course they don’t. He’s paralyzed. While there on the floor for hours, staff throw water at him, look at him, and continue to ignore the fact that they have a paralyzed man on the floor of their jail. NYDAILYNEWS.com
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Graphic & Difficult Footage To Watch: The Death Of Elliott Williams By Tulsa Pigs (Left To Suffer) [Video]
