No corrections officers will be charged after death at Pima County jail

No criminal charges will be filed as a result of a use of force incident that led to a man's death in the Pima County Jail, Pima County Attorney Laura Conover announced Thursday.

Wade Welch died in August 2022 after corrections officers tased him repeatedly while he was restrained.

Conover said an investigation conducted by a regional police collaboration, combined with her own review of the evidence, the findings of an independent expert, and the determinations made by the medical examiner, led her to believe that there was not a substantial likelihood of a conviction for any of the officers involved in the incident.

Conover said she spoke with 12 members of Welch's family Thursday morning to convey the news privately.

"My heart is full of sadness at the amount of grief involved for this large family," Conover said.

According to the Pima Regional Critical Incident Team — a consortium of southern Arizona law enforcement agencies that investigated the death that's sometimes called PCRIT — Welch died after corrections officers attempted to move him from one housing unit to another at the jail.

"While moving him, he refused to enter his assigned cell," the investigative team said in a statement in 2022. "Correction Officers attempted to restrain Welch physically."

The Arizona Republic has requested a copy of the investigation. PCRIT and Tuscon police said they would not release it until after Conover's announcement.

Heavily edited body camera footage released from the jail shows officers taking Welch to the ground, handcuffing him and placing a spit hood over his head while repeatedly using a Taser on him.

Throughout the incident, Welch can be heard screaming for help and saying, "I can't breathe." Welch tells corrections officers he has a heart condition and asks to be taken to the hospital. He shouts, "You're killing me!" as the officers use a stun gun on him again.

John McMahon, an "independent use-of-force and tactical-review expert" hired by Conover, reviewed previously released body camera videos from the incident on Thursday during Conover's news conference.

He described Welch's behavior as "violent and active" and "combative" resistance to the officers at the jail.

McMahon said the officers' actions, including multiple tasings, were based on training at the Pima County Jail and were consistent with state and federal law.

"I looked at it on its own merits, and the officer's actions were, in my opinion, objectively reasonable," McMahon said. "Overcoming his resistance is a justifiable use of force."

The Pima County Medical Examiner determined Welch's death was a homicide. But Conover noted the report also listed contributing factors, including "methamphetamine intoxication, hypertensive cardiovascular disease, and obesity," in addition to "physical altercation with restraint."

When pressed on her decision, Conover pointed to a high bar in Arizona to convict law enforcement officers in use of force cases.

"There are statutes on the Arizona books created by the legislature that create additional obstacles when we are assessing whether or not we can reach that substantial likelihood of conviction," Conover said.

While they may not have met the standard for a criminal conviction, Conover said the officers' actions "will play a massive role" in ongoing civil litigation.

Welch's mother and minor son are named plaintiffs in a wrongful death lawsuit against the Pima County Sheriff, corrections officers, the jail's health care provider, and several other defendants brought by Tucson-based attorney Amy Hernandez.

"It just makes us more convicted going forward with the case," Hernandez said in an interview with The Republic after Conover's announcement. "It's incumbent upon us to seek justice for Wade Welch and his family. So we're using the civil legal process to make sure the sheriff and the corrections officers are held accountable."

Hernandez said depositions for the civil lawsuit will likely begin after the start of the new year.

Have a news tip on Arizona jails? Reach the reporter at jjenkins@arizonarepublic.com or 812-243-5582. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @JimmyJenkins.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Wade Welch died in a Pima County Jail. No one will face charges