Omar K Arrington-Bey, 38

Bedford Heights, Ohio
June 24, 2013

Agencies: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction ODRC | Bedford Heights Jail Ohio

Cause of death: Choking


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Last updated: almost 6 years ago

Overview

A 38-year-old Shaker Heights man died Friday after fighting with officers at the Bedford Heights Jail.

The incident began about 6:40 p.m., when Omar Arrington-Bey was involved in an altercation with corrections officers, who called police for assistance.

Officers responded at 6:44 p.m. and saw Arrington-Bey on top of and choking two corrections officers, Chief Michael Marotta said in a news release.

The police officers tried to get Arrington-Bey, who was a wrestler at Shaker Heights High School, off of the corrections officers, but he resisted, Marotta said.

"Police officers eventually were able to free the corrections officers from Arrington-Bey’s grasp and handcuff him," he said.

Arrington-Bey, who was 5 feet 11, 205 pounds, was then placed in a restraint chair, where he lost consciousness. Paramedics took him to Bedford Medical Center, where he soon died.

Legal Action

February 2017 A federal appeals court panel said Friday that no Bedford Heights police officers should be held legally responsible for the death of a 38-year-old man who was held in an isolation cell for nine hours and then strapped to a chair during a psychotic episode.

The ruling from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a reversal from a Cleveland federal judge's decision, which said not only could police officers be held liable in Omar Arrington-Bey's death in 2013, but the city as well for failing to train its employees.

Community and Family Efforts

See also <http://ebwiki.org/articles/sean-levert>