KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Charles Adair, a 50-year-old Wyandotte County Jail inmate, died July 5 during a struggle with jail employees that included one jail officer kneeling on Adair's back.
The autopsy report states Adair "went unresponsive" during the struggle, and an EMS crew ordered to the scene pronounced him dead.
Information from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation stated Adair received medical care at about 8:30 p.m. for a preexisting leg wound
Adair began yelling, resisting efforts to calm him down, and did not comply with orders from jail employees, according to the KBI.
The internal examination during the autopsy revealed "multiple rib fractures and a sternal fracture, bilateral pleural effusions, cardiomegaly with biventricular hypertrophy, a pacemaker with two wires, marked pulmonary congestion and edema, micronodular cirrhosis of the liver, and benign nephrosclerosis, scars and cysts of the kidneys."
Senior Associate Medical Examiner, Dr. Feng Li, stated in his autopsy report, "Based upon the circumstances surrounding death, as currently known, the cause of death is complications of mechanical asphyxia. Contributory causes of death include hypertensive cardiovascular disease and hepatic cirrhosis due to chronic alcoholism. The manner of death is consistent with homicide."
Adair's death was ruled a homicide on Sept. 5, two months after he died.
No decision has been made public on whether the Wyandotte County District Attorney's Office will charge any of the jail employees in Adair's death.
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