Ohio’s correctional agency has terminated seven employees after officials say prison guards used excessive and unjustified force against a Black inmate before he died in custody in February

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s correctional agency terminated seven employees Friday after officials say prison guards used excessive and unjustified force against a Black inmate before he died in custody in February.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction sent a notice of removal to five corrections officers, a supervisor and a licensed nurse following an investigation into the in-custody death of 55-year-old Michael McDaniel.

Security footage released by the agency in July showed McDaniel collapsing on his own and being taken down to the floor by prison guards at least 16 times before he died at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, a Columbus suburb, on Feb. 6.

“We’re responsible for what happened in that video,” director Annette Chambers-Smith told reporters in July, after releasing surveillance footage of the incident. “There is no question about that.”

One of the officers involved, Heath Causey, is accused in the records released Friday of performing a “take-down” of McDaniel while the inmate was being escorted outside without shoes and a coat and while wearing a ripped white t-shirt, “causing his body to veer off the walking path and land face-down in a snow-covered area.”

The disciplinary records also state Lt. Bruce Brown “took no steps to stop” McDaniel from falling to the ground and failed to call for assistance to “safely transport” him to the medical facility after correction officers used excessive force.

The majority of the encounters appear to happen as more than half a dozen officers looked on. The department concluded the 16 times McDaniel hit the ground were avoidable and due to neglect of care by the staff handling him.

Once McDaniel arrived at the medical center, the report says his medical examination took less than a minute and the unidentified nurse who treated him did not do a standard exam or check his vital signs.