Father dies after being handcuffed, pinned to floor by Jasper County deputies during seizure: family

DEMOTTE, Ind. (WLS) -- Visitation got underway Tuesday evening for 26-year-old Rhyker Earl.

His family is reeling after, they say, a call for help during a medical emergency ended with the young father of two dead and the family, blaming responding officers.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

"It just shouldn't have happened to him," said Miracle Gawlinski, Earl's aunt. "I will be his voice that he no longer has."

Gawlinski is now left mourning after witnessing the final moments of her nephew's life.

"It's devastating. It's traumatic. It's something I'll never forget for the rest of my life," Gawlinski said.

It comes after, she says, his grandmother called police on the night of Sept. 8 because he was suffering from a seizure, the second one that day.

When Jasper County deputies and paramedics responded to his home again on Bahama Drive at the Island Grove mobile home park in DeMotte, instead of help, his aunt says her family received long-lasting heartache after he was handcuffed and pinned to the floor.

"He was pleading for his life," Gawlinski said.

Gawlinski said she tried to intervene but was ignored.

After the ordeal, the 26-year-old was placed on life support and died two days later.

In a statement, the Jasper County Sheriff's Office confirmed the call, but did not detail what happened when crews arrived.

Instead, the sheriff's office said they requested Indiana State Police to investigate and forwarded all questions to that agency.

"He was my only brother, my only sibling. My child isn't going to have an uncle, and my niece and my nephew will no longer have a father. That's probably the hardest," said Tara Earl, the victim's sister.

As family and friends gathered Tuesday at Graceway Bible Baptist Church to say their final goodbyes, their calls for answers only grow louder.

"I'll make sure that his kids know that he loved them, and he didn't want to leave them," Earl's sister said.

"It did not need to happen. We should not be here, today," Earl's aunt said. "He'll be missed by a lot of people, and this is just very unfortunate. It did not need to happen. We should not be here, today."

Indiana State Police are leading this investigation.

ABC7 reached out to them for an update but have not heard back. The Lake County, Indiana coroner is dealing with the cause of death, which they say, is still pending.

Earl's family said they have retained famed attorney Ben Crump in the case to help in their search for justice.