Family of Indiana man who died after being handcuffed to speak along with attorney Ben Crump Monday

The Jasper County Sheriff's Office released the body camera footage of Earl's final moments alive on Friday.

Stephanie Wade Image
Monday, September 30, 2024 10:12AM

Family of Indiana man who died after being handcuffed to speak Monday
Rhyker Earl's family will hold a news conference with attorney Ben Crump after the body camera footage of the Indiana man's final moments.

JASPER COUNTY, Ind. (WLS) -- Family and famed civil rights attorney Ben Crump will hold a news conference Monday following that newly-released body camera footage of Rhyker Earl's death.

His family has been asking for answers after the 26-year-old father of two died after an encounter with sheriff's deputies and paramedics, inside his home earlier this month.

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The Jasper County Sheriff's Office released the body camera footage of Earl's final moments alive on Friday.

It shows deputies responding to his home in DeMotte, Indiana after he suffered a seizure.

Minutes into the encounter, deputies restrained Earl on the ground, asking him to remain calm as he pleaded for his life in front of his family.

READ MORE | Police release bodycam video of incident that led to Indiana man's death after being handcuffed

Responders administered several shots of sedatives.

Earl then went unconscious and died at the hospital days later.

At a vigil Sunday night, his family says the response could have and should have gone differently.

"The numbness we feel is overwhelming," his aunt, Miracle Gawlinski, said. "There is anger and rage that wants justice... "For many of us, perhaps most of us, there is an awakening sense that the personal helplessness that the distant terror we read about in the daily paper can now become terror that we experience in our own homes."

The Jasper County Sheriff's Office disputes some of the family's claims as Indiana State Police investigate the responders' use of force.