consciousness and died just after being detained in the
lobby of the Dallas County jail Saturday morning.
According to authorities, Joseph Sheldon Hutcheson ran
into the building sometime after 10 a.m., yelled for help, but
was placed in handcuffs, lost consciousness and died.
Raul Reyna, the Dallas County sheriff’s office spokesman,
said Hutcheson parked his pickup in the crosswalk and ran
into the jail’s south tower, yelling that his wife was trying to
kill him, Reyna said.
A deputy restrained Hutcheson with handcuffs, “believing
that he may be a threat to himself or others until they could
calm the man down,” Reyna said in an email.
An eye witness, April Berryhill, who was at the jail to submit
a property release form, said she saw one sheriff’s deputy
with his knee on Hutcheson’s back and another one with a
knee on his throat.
Berryhill said Hutcheson told deputies he couldn’t breathe
before they uncuffed him and laid him down on his back.
By then, the color of his face had turned from pale white to
pale blue, Berryhill said.
“He came in saying, ‘Don’t be scared of me. I just
need some help.’ They just tackled him as if he’d
threatened their lives,” Berryhill said. “He didn’t have
a weapon. He wasn’t swinging at the officers. He just
needed help.”
Reyna said deputies performed CPR at the scene until Dallas
Fire-Rescue arrived and took him to Parkland Memorial
Hospital.
He was pronounced dead at 11:31 a.m.
The jail remained closed to visitors Saturday afternoon.
Investigators were at the scene, with some officers
stationed behind Hutcheson’s black pickup, which remained
parked on Commerce Street.
Reyna said deputies saw what “appeared to be narcotics” in
the truck.
The Dallas County medical examiner’s office will determine
Hutcheson’s cause of death, and the findings will be
included in the sheriff’s investigation, Reyna said.
Dallas Morning News
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