Family releases video showing black man’s final moments before death in Missouri prison

COLUMBIA, Missouri — Newly released prison video of a black Missouri man who prosecutors say was killed by guards shows that nearly 10 minutes passed after he stopped moving before he was examined by a nurse.

An attorney for Othel Moore Jr.’s mother and sister on Tuesday released prison surveillance footage of the 38-year-old’s final moments before his death.

Four former employees have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the December 2023 shooting. Charges against the fifth were dropped, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said.

The criminal complaint alleges that guards pepper-sprayed Moore, pulled a mask over his face and left him in a position that caused him to suffocate.

Moore’s mother and sister separately filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

Surveillance video from the Jefferson City Correctional Center provided by attorneys for the Moore family shows several inmates stripping down to their underpants with their hands cuffed behind their backs as guards sift through cameras and belongings on Dec. 8, 2023, the day Moore died.

While handcuffed just outside his cell door, a guard pepper-sprayed Moore, according to Cole County District Attorney Locke Thompson’s office.

Video released by Moore’s family shows him being led away from other inmates. The guards held his hands as he knelt and eventually lay face down on the floor.

The guards then tied his legs and put a mask over his face before tying him to a cart in a reclined position, the video shows.

The video showed Moore rocking back and forth but did not appear to struggle with the guards.

Security guards told investigators that Moore disobeyed orders to remain quiet and spat at them, although witnesses said Moore spit pepper spray out of his mouth.

The video shows guards then taking Moore to a locked cell, where he first tried to get into a more upright position before falling back onto a reclined headrest.

His movements gradually slowed down for about 20 minutes until he lay motionless with his head hanging to the side.

The nurse arrived about 10 minutes after Moore froze, calmly checked his pulse and moved his limp head. A nurse and another staff member briefly applied quick compresses to his upper body before he was removed from his cell.

The Moore family’s attorney, Andrew M. Stroth, said at a news conference Tuesday that prison staff acted “without a sense of urgency.”

In a separate statement, Stroth said the video highlights the “total disregard for the sanctity of life, deliberate indifference and failure of medical personnel to provide emergency medical care to Otel.”

Ten full-time and contractor employees were laid off in connection with Moore’s death.

“We have taken and will continue to take the steps necessary to reduce the safety risks for everyone in our facilities,” the department said in a June statement after criminal charges were filed against several former employees. “We take seriously our responsibility to provide the safest possible environment and will not tolerate behavior or conditions that jeopardize the well-being of Missourians working or living in our facilities.”

Pojmann said in an email Tuesday that body cameras are now being used at all high-security facilities in the state.

Three former employees charged with second-degree murder in Moore’s death will go on trial in January. The fourth will appear in court on December 11.