The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is looking into the death of a 29-year-old man who died while in police custody in a downtown Jackson jail, WAPT reports.
"We have had an incident occur here at the Jackson Jail, and we want to be as transparent as we can about it," Jackson Police Chief Lee Vance said, according to the news staiton.
Jamal Mallard, 29, was found unresponsive in a holding cell early Sunday morning and was pronounced dead shortly afterward. "He was found on the floor of one of our holding cells. [American Medical Response] was called. Once he arrived, they pronounced the individual dead," Vance said.
Mallard's mother, Nanette Mallard, is now demanding answers about her son's death.
On Saturday night, Mallard was chased by police for allegedly stealing a lawn mower. He escaped, but hours later officers were tipped off that Mallard was at his home.
"I called them to come pick my child up," Nanette Mallard acknowledged. "The next thing I know, he's dead. I feel terrible. If he would have stayed here, he probably would still be alive.
"This morning they said, 'Your son is dead,' and I just started hollering," the grieving mother added.
According to the police chief, there was no struggle with Mallard when he was taken into custody and charged with petty larceny. Mallard had been in the cell for more than two hours before he was found.
"[There were] no signs of trauma to this individual's body that we found. No complaints of pain, nothing to indicate something was going wrong with his health," Vance said.
Read more at WAPT.