Attorney: Brutal beating, not bad heart, caused mentally-ill man's death in Wayne County Jail

Abdul Akbar MDOC.jpg

Abdul Akbar, Michigan Department of Corrections photo

Abdul Akbar, Wayne County Jail mugshot

DETROIT, MI -- It's abnormal for a law enforcement agency -- let alone three of them -- to conduct a full death investigation if a person is determined to have died of natural causes.

But that's exactly what happened following the death of 59-year-old Abdul Akbar, who died suddenly Nov. 1, a week after a physical altercation with multiple Wayne County Jail guards.

The following day, Wayne County Medical Examiner Carl Schmidt performed an autopsy and determined an enlarged heart caused Akbar's sudden death.

Civil Lawsuit

David Robinson, an attorney representing Akbar's family in a $25 million-plus lawsuit against the county, theorizes Akbar died as a direct result of the beating he endured about 5:30 a.m. Oct. 23 and the subsequent failure of jail employees to ensure Akbar received proper medical treatment.

Robinson says the fear of a lawsuit is the reason the county investigated this case so thoroughly. The Wayne County Jail conducted an internal investigation, the Detroit Police Department conducted an independent investigation and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office reviewed the case, including witness statement from over 70 people, medical records and surveillance.

Worthy says Akbar, who has a history of mental illness, became violent and unruly the morning of Oct. 23 after he missed breakfast due to oversleeping, which Akbar said was the result of new medication he'd been prescribed.

When Akbar became threatening -- at one point smashing a computer monitor and then raising a hard dive -- an alert was issued and 16 guards responded to Akbar's section of the jail.

It took up to eight guards to handcuff Akbar, Worthy said. Akbar's jaw was broken in two places. Guards dragged Akbar down a hall to a segregation section of the jail. He was held for at least eight hours in a cell before being transported to Detroit Receiving Hospital.

"Can you imagine just sitting in a jail cell (after that)," Robinson said. "That's got to be excruciating pain."

Akbar was serving a nine-month sentence after being convicted in Sept. 2014 of breaking and entering with the intent to commit larceny. He was metal scrapping.

Injuries

Worthy said doctors at the hospital conducted tests and found no brain trauma; Robinson said the contrary, that doctors did find bleeding on the brain. They also performed surgery on his jaw.

Robinson contends Akbar was "kicked in the head and beaten," that his injuries were "truly severe and had to have been accomplished by brute force."

Worthy said "it's probable" the injuries occurred while Akbar was "resisting the handcuffs."

Despite releasing the findings of her extensive investigation, Worthy's office wouldn't immediately release surveillance footage or other investigative records

Worthy only mentioned a vantage point in the video that showed Akbar being dragged down a hall, still conscious, following his detention. The Akbar family attorney believes there's more.

"I have information that what is shown on the video doesn't look good for the county," he told MLive Detroit.

Robinson says he saw Akbar's body in the funeral home after the medical examiner released it. His face was still "full of sutures" from the operation.

Lack of Transparency

Because Akbar didn't die right away, Robinson believes the medical examiner "took advantage of the opportunity" and ruled it a natural, health-related death, what Robinson called "the path of least resistance."

MLive Detroit has submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to Wayne County and the Detroit Police Department requesting all records reviewed in the case.

The Wayne County Sheriff's Department refused to issue comment Tuesday, citing ongoing civil litigation.

The Detroit Police Department failed to offer a reasonable explanation as to why its Homicide Unit investigated a case in which the death was ruled natural.

A representative for the Detroit Police Media Relations Department, after speaking with the head of the Homicide Unit, said only that it's "protocol" for the Homicide Unit to investigate all deaths in Detroit, which is inaccurate. The representative then refused to check into the matter further.

Robinson says Worthy's office previously held up release of certain evidence, including videotape, citing her ongoing investigation.

"Our investigation shows that restraint and segregation of Mr. Akbar by officers at the Wayne County Jail was certainly warranted because he was acting out in a very dangerous and violent manner," Worthy said in a statement Tuesday. "Although he sustained an injury on October 23, 2014, scientific evidence shows there was no medical connection between the injury and Mr. Akbar's death eight days later on November 1, 2014.

"As a result, no criminal charges will issue in this case."

Now that Worthy has concluded the criminal investigation, Robinson believes the judge presiding over the civil case will allow release of the records and video.

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