SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Sacramento mother is demanding answers from the county sheriff after her son was found unresponsive in his Sacramento County Jail cell and was sent to hospital in a coma.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said Antonio Thomas, 39, and his cellmate got into a fight Dec. 9 around 10:40 A.M. Thomas pressed the emergency button in his cell, and when deputies arrived, they found him on the ground unresponsive, sheriff’s officials said.
Anita Thomas said it took authorities 24 hours after her son was transported to UC Davis Medical Center to notify her.
“An officer called and told me he wanted to talk to me, and that no one is hurt — no one is in trouble,” Anita explained. “When he and two other officers finally made it, they said he was found unresponsive in his cell, and they don’t know if he had an altercation with another cellmate or not.”
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The Thomas family, along with the Black Lives Matter — Sacramento’s leader Tanya Faison, said they are not sure with whom Antonio got into an altercation, but they want visual proof. The Thomas family is now demanding for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department to release security video from inside the jail.
“The fact that there is no bruising, there is no fight, and the man we are talking about would defend himself if he was up against somebody else,” Faison said. “He didn’t fight anybody. We think it is most likely staff or a deputy, but we are not sure. We want those answers. That is what we are trying to find out.”
Antonio was initially booked into the Sacramento County Main jail on Dec. 7 for allegedly violating his probation. The cellmate, who has yet to be identified, remains in custody on unrelated charges.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s official said they are working to add charges related to this incident. Sheriff’s officials insist that no deputy was involved.
“The was no use of force or altercation of any kind between any Sheriff’s deputy and Mr. Thomas,” an official told ABC10. “There is, however, evidence of an altercation between Mr. Thomas and his cellmate.”
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