On Thursday, the long-form video of five deputies struggling with a naked, mentally ill female inmate was released.
Inmate Natasha McKenna, 37, was seen being shocked four times with a stun gun by a group of deputies in biohazard suits before she lost consciousness.
Only a few days after the struggle was caught on tape, McKenna died which ignited a very long investigation of her death. The video released by Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid on Thursday was 45- minutes long. Two days prior, the county’s lead prosecutor announced that he was not going to file charges, saying that that her death was a “tragic accident.”
After McKenna’s death, a medical examiner ruled that her death was in fact accidental, but due to excited delirium associate with the use of restraints as well as a stun gun. McKenna was also noted as having schizophrenia, which was listed as a contributing factor. At this time, the case is the focus of a federal civil rights investigation, according to the Washington Post.
The video was released on YouTube and starts out with a deputy explaining that a special Emergency Response Team was being used to move McKenna out of her cell at a jail in Fairfax to a jail in Alexandria. She was being held under charges for assaulting a police officer. The deputy explained that the team was required to move her because of her previous attack on one of her jailers. The biohazard suits were explained as a protection due to her previous episode of throwing urine at guards.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh expressed that the deputies were also concerned because McKenna’s medical tests showed that she had multiple communicable diseases including herpes and MRSA.
The video shows a deputy at the beginning of the incident saying, “Natasha, we’re here to take you out,” followed by McKenna saying, “You promised me you wouldn’t kill me!”
At that time, the deputies are shown wrestling her to the ground and partaking in a 15-20 minute struggle in order to get her in handcuffs and bound in a restraint char. At that time, they warned her that she would be shot with a stun gun if she continued to resist.
At this time, it is still unclear as to why McKenna was naked.
With the continued struggle came four shots by the stun gun before McKenna was securely restrained. A nurse then attempts to take her vitals, although the video does not show a clear view as to whether or not the attempt was successful. It continues on to when she was taken to the garage for transfer where a second attempt was made to take her vital signs, which ended badly, which led to deputies beginning resuscitation efforts.
McKenna lost consciousness, and on Feb.7, four days later, she was declared brain dead.
Kincaid expressed her condolences to the McKenna family Thursday, and says she will launch an internal investigation now that the criminal probe is concluded.
Kincaid said she released the video because there is “no better way for me to share what actually occurred” with the community. She also declared that she will be launching an internal investigation.