Sebastian County, Ark. NAACP releases statement on 2021 inmate death
The Local NAACP chapter has responded to a federal lawsuit filed in the death of a Black man who was allegedly malnourished and neglected before he died in the Sebastian County Jail.
On Friday, the family of Larry Eugene Price Jr. who died at the Sebastian County jail in August 2021, filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court For the Western District of Arkansas in Fort Smith alleging Price's mental healthcare was neglected by before his death.
The lawsuit alleges Price was 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 185 pounds before he was jailed. Sheriff Hobe Runion said Price was 120 pounds when he died. The lawsuit alleges his skin was wilted due to prolonged moisture exposure from water on a concrete floor and bunk in solitary jail confinement.
The Sebastian County NAACP chapter Sunday morning released a statement about the case.
"The Sebastian County NAACP Branch was made aware of the death of Mr. Price shortly after it occurred. Our hope is that the Price family will receive the answers it so richly deserves on the circumstances surrounding the death of their loved one," stated Olan C. James III, chapter president.
Sebastian County and Turn Key Health Clinics LLC are named as defendants in the federal case.
In 2021, Price, had been in the jail about a year on a charge of making a terroristic threat in Fort Smith. Price, 51, had a history of mental illness, according to the lawsuit.
Price had been homeless when he was arrested in August 2020 in Fort Smith on allegations he threatened officers by pointing his finger and squeezing it like it was on a trigger.
Sebastian County Judge Steve Hotz told The Associated Press an internal review of the case is underway by the sheriff's office. Oklahoma-based Turn Key Health Clinics, the jail medical provider, could not be immediately reached.
The lawsuit accuses jail staff and the medical provider of neglecting Price.
"Larry Price suffered in the tortured throes of his untreated mental disorder for months on end as hail healthcare and security staff watched him waste away-apathetic to his life-threatening medical and mental health needs and to the cruelty of his confinement," the lawsuit states.
Seattle attorney Erik Heipt, representing the family, told "Newsweek" magazine that Price was held in solitary confinement a year awaiting trial.
Andrew DeMillo / Associated Press contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Sebastian County NAACP responds to 2021 jail death of Black man
