Natasha McKenna (January9,1978February8,2015) was a 37-year-old African-American woman who died in

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...

while in police custody. The catalyst event, extraction from her cell and being tasered while shackled, was captured on the video of the Fairfax County jail. During a team's efforts to extract the mentally ill prisoner, who resisted, they tasered her four times while she was restrained. No charges were filed against the deputies who tasered McKenna, but the case became the subject of a federal civil rights investigation because of several related issues.

Early life

At the age of 12, McKenna was diagnosed with

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

bi-polar disorder Bipolar may refer to: Astronomy * Bipolar nebula, a distinctive nebular formation * Bipolar outflow, two continuous flows of gas from the poles of a star Mathematics * Bipolar coordinates, a two-dimensional orthogonal coordinate system * Bipolar ...

and depression. (Other sources say the diagnosis was made when she was 14 years old.) According to a family photograph, she was an honors graduate student from high school in Fairfax County. She had a 7-year-old daughter.

Event

McKenna, a 37-year-old woman, was being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center by the

Fairfax County Police Department The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) is a full-service law enforcement agency, located in Northern Virginia. The FCPD services a population of 1,081,726 residents within of Fairfax County, Virginia. The stated mission of the department ...

and

Fairfax County Sheriff's Office The Fairfax County Sheriff's Office, officially the Fairfax County Office of the Sheriff, serves a population of 1,116,897 residents in Fairfax County, Virginia, a Northern Virginian suburb of Washington, D.C. It is one of the largest Sheriff's O ...

, due to an outstanding warrant issued over her suspected attack on a police officer in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

. Fairfax County officials had notified Alexandria police, whom they expected to pick up the suspect. But, there was an unexplained week-long delay in their response, and Fairfax decided to transport the prisoner to Alexandria. They said her mental condition was deteriorating. In Alexandria, better assistance could be provided, namely, the resources (i.e., legal representation to petition for a mental health hold) that were required to be provided by the warrant-issuing city. Due to the previous assault charge against her, when McKenna was taken out of her cell, she was restrained with her arms behind her back and in

handcuffs Handcuffs are Physical restraint, restraint devices designed to secure an individual's wrists in proximity to each other. They comprise two parts, linked together by a Link chain, chain, a hinge, or rigid bar. Each cuff has a rotating arm whi ...

, her legs shackled, and a spit mask placed over her head. 17 minutes into the 45-minute struggle to extract her from her cell, McKenna, who was and tall, was tasered. A sheriff's deputy used a stun gun to taser her four times because she wouldn't bend her knees to be put into a wheeled

restraint chair A restraint chair is a type of physical restraint that is used to force an individual to remain seated in one place to prevent injury and harm to themselves or others. They are commonly used in prisons for violent inmates and hospitals for out of ...

. Because she was classified as mentally ill, a specialized team was attempting to ready her for transport to Alexandria. The team was made up of six members of the Sheriff's Emergency Response Team ("SERT"); they were dressed in full-body biohazard suits and gas masks. Shortly after being tasered, McKenna suffered cardiac arrest and lost consciousness. She was resuscitated by emergency responders while being taken to

Inova Fairfax Hospital Inova Fairfax Medical Campus is the largest hospital campus in Northern Virginia and the flagship hospital of Inova Health System. Located in Woodburn in Fairfax County, Virginia, Inova Fairfax Hospital is one of the largest employers in the cou ...

. There she was placed on life support. After five days, she was determined to be brain dead and was removed from life support. She was pronounced dead on February 8, 2015.

Response

The Fairfax County Sheriff Department, led by Sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid, conducted an initial internal investigation. This was later assigned to the Fairfax County Police, which is responsible for investigations of prisoner deaths. There were no criminal charges filed against the officers involved in McKenna's death. The Virginia medical examiner's office made the determination that McKenna's cause of death was accidental, due to

excited delirium Excited delirium (ExDS), also known as agitated delirium (AgDS), is a controversial diagnosis sometimes characterized as a potentially fatal state of extreme agitation and delirium. It is typically diagnosed postmortem in young adult males, dispr ...

, and that it was linked to the use of the stun gun. Use of the stun gun was questioned by her family and counsel as being an excessive use of force on a restrained person, a small woman. Following McKenna's death, the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office suspended such use of stun guns at the county jail in April 2015. The question of how police treat mentally ill prisoners became a focus of the discussion surrounding McKenna's death. The Sheriff's Emergency Response Team ("SERT") records its work of cell extractions of inmates by video. The video of the incident related to McKenna was released by the Fairfax County Sheriff's office. The Commonwealth of Fairfax County released a 51-page report prepared by their attorney, Ray Morrogh. A 110-page incident report was also made available. The

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&n ...

and other social justice organizations held a public protest in reaction to McKenna's death and the treatment of

people of color The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...

by police.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKenna, Natasha Deaths in police custody in the United States 1978 births 2015 deaths American people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Virginia detention Victims of police brutality Fairfax County, Virginia Law enforcement in Virginia

Early life

Event

Response

See also

References