For nearly eight years, California law enforcement officials have kept deaths in police custody under wraps, calling the cases “accidental” and refusing to release basic information to reporters and victims’ families, according to an investigation by Open Vallejo. Darryl Mefferd seemed confused, dehydrated and making paranoid comments, so his niece took him to a local hospital where he was treated with vitamins and sedatives. Doctors wanted him to stay in the hospital, but they didn’t think he would qualify for involuntary commitment and didn’t call police. Mefford left the hospital but was met outside by Vallejo Police Department Officer Jeremy Cullinan, who was at the hospital responding to another call. Cullinan ignored her niece’s pleas to take her uncle home and insisted on keeping Mayford in protective custody. Thirty minutes later, Mayford was dead. The coroner ruled the death an accident as a result of a fatal dose of methamphetamine. But Mefford has spent the past eight hours in hospital, where doctors said his medical diagnosis was “not complicated.” A source who reviewed the body camera footage, which has not been released, said Mefford either fell or was thrown to the ground before Cullinan sat on him in handcuffs for 10 minutes.
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