Matthew Ajibade

Two US police deputies who were accused of killing a mentally ill Nigerian college student in a jail in Georgia have been cleared.

According to a report by Mail Online, former jailers Jason Kenny and Maxine Evans were found not guilty of the involuntary manslaughter of Matthew Ajibade, who died strapped to a chair after being punched and kicked in the head and tasered in the groin by officers trying to subdue him.

Ajibade, 21, was having a bipolar episode, his family claimed, when officers forced him to the ground inside the jail before tasering him when he resisted.

Ajibade’s cousin Chris Oladapo said in a statement through his attorney: ‘I am not surprised by the verdict. I knew that that same system that failed Matthew would not be the system that got him justice.’

Nine deputies were fired in the aftermath of Ajibade’s death.

In a separate civil lawsuit Ajibade’s family alleges that the incident started on New Year’s Day when the student was having a manic episode caused by his bipolar disorder, and his girlfriend called police for help.

The suit claimed that she told officers what was happening and gave them a bottle of Ajibade’s medicine. But instead of taking him to the hospital, they arrested him.

Read the background report here:  Nine Chatham County sheriff’s deputies have been fired after a probe