LEBANON, Ky. (WDRB) -- Joseph "Josey" Martin spent his last minutes alive with his face smashed into the ground while deputies on top of him repeatedly tased, pepper sprayed and hit him. One knelt on Martin's neck for more than a minute and a half until he died.
His December 2022 death was ruled a homicide due to asphyxia caused by use of force from law enforcement, according to a medical examiner. When asked in a deposition if officers strangled Martin to death, Dr. Darius Arabadjief, a medical examiner for the state, responded, "I would say strangled, compressed his torso and smothered."
While three Marion County Sheriff's deputies involved in the death denied putting pressure on Martin's neck, the medical examiner, body camera video and an investigation by Kentucky State Police showed otherwise.
Kentucky State Police Deputy Hunter Caroll, who conducted the investigation, found that deputies put pressure on Martin's neck for 1 minute and 46 seconds, including a knee "placed in the back of Martin's neck/head area for an extended period of time."
"He spends the last moments of his life very cognizant that he is going to die," said attorney Greg Simms, who is one of the attorneys representing Martin's family in a wrongful death lawsuit. "He's begging for help and hollering that 'You are going to kill me!' And then they kill him."
While a grand jury did not find enough evidence for criminal charges, Martin's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit and is hoping that the U.S. Attorney's Office will launch its own investigation.
Marion County Sheriff Jimmy Clements testified in a deposition that deadly force would not have been warranted at any time during officers' contact with Martin, who was arrested for public intoxication. The medical examiner also determined Martin was not under the influence of any drugs or alcohol when he died.
The arresting trooper told KSP he believed Martin was "under the influence of some kind of narco, some kind of drug, uh, just based off of his demeanor."
Nearly two years after Martin's death, no one involved has faced any disciplinary consequences.
"There's not a letter in any of their files," Simms said. "They are still working as law enforcement. No internal disciplinary measures whatsoever. Not any."
Asked why the deputies weren't punished, Clements said in a deposition "because I did not find anything ... that I felt warranted disciplinary action."
An attorney for the three deputies did not immediately return a request for comment.
In July 2023, special prosecutor Brian Wright brought the case before a Marion County grand jury for possible charges, but it entered a no-true bill, meaning the jurors did not find enough evidence for any criminal charges to be filed.
"I don't believe a whole-hearted effort was given to obtain charges against the deputies," Simms said.
Martin, a married 37-year-old concrete and construction worker, had been arrested Dec. 16, 2022, by Marion County Sheriff's Deputy Tristan Hayden for misdemeanor public intoxication after deputies responded to a domestic disturbance at his sister's home a little after 11 p.m. in the city of Loretto, in Marion County.
Amanda Martin, his wife, said police were called because her husband had gotten into a fight with a family member.
The 911 caller said Martin was waving a gun in the air and making threats to family.
When deputies arrived, Martin put his hands in the air and was handcuffed, Amanda Martin told KSP. She said he had one beer that night and was not given a breathalyzer.
"When he left, he told us he would be back in 8 hours," she told KSP. "He wasn't yelling. He wasn't resisting. When he left the scene, he was fine."
Kentucky's chief medical examiner concluded Martin was not under the influence of any drugs or had alcohol in his blood when he was arrested.
"It was a false arrest," Simms said. "The arrest should not have happened. It was a wall of willful ignorance."
Regardless, Martin was placed in a sheriff's vehicle in handcuffs to be taken to the Marion County jail.
There is disagreement about what happened next. Hayden said Martin kicked out a window in his vehicle while acting in a belligerent manner, which caused the confrontation with deputies.
Simms claims Martin had a panic attack and needed air, pulling on the vehicle's window, which was slightly opened, trying to get more air when the window shattered.
"I'm not being uncooperative!" Martin pleaded when Hayden went to get him out of the vehicle asking why he kicked the window, according to body camera video. "I didn't kick the window out!"
At the time, Martin was handcuffed with his arms in front of him.
Hayden then called for backup. Deputies Chris Nelson and John Robert Purdom, as well as Lebanon Police Officer Samuel Knopp, quickly arrived on the scene and attempted to remove Martin's handcuffs and put them back on with his hands behind his back.
The Marion County deputies later said Martin was resisting, though he said he wasn't trying to resist.
"I'm not doing nothing!" Martin said repeatedly as officers continue to tell him to put his hands behind his back.
It is unclear in the video how much Martin is resisting but he is certainly struggling with the officers.
"Tase him. Tase him," a deputy said as Martin screams for help.
Martin is unable to put both hands behind his back because one is stuck in the pocket of the hoodie he is wearing, Simms said.
Martin tells deputies at one point that he is hung up in his hoodie, according to the body camera video. And a deputy also says his hand is inside his sweatshirt.
Simms also noted that Martin never tried to flee, deputies knew he was unarmed as he was already in custody and they outmanned him four to one.
"Instead of showing any patience or de-escalation, the only answer was just applying more violence the entire time," Simms said. "His face is beaten in, bloody from where he has been beaten into the ground."
The officers struggle with Martin for 4-and-a-half minutes and put pressure on his neck and head, according to body camera video. Hayden put his knee on Martin's neck, according to KSP.
"You're going to kill me!" Martin said at one point.
Toward the end of the struggle, Martin "made only muffled groaning/grunting sounds" for about a minute before he stopped making any movements, according to the KSP report. He was then handcuffed, rolled over and found to be unresponsive. His face was bloodied.
"Hey bud. Wake up. Wake up! Come on, bud. Hey, hey, wake up. Come on!," a deputy says to Martin, according to body cam video.
Deputies tried to revive him, and EMS was called.
In interviews with KSP investigators, the deputies denied putting pressure on Martin's head or neck. Even after watching the body camera videos, Purdon said he didn't see any excessive use of force.
"Uh, the outcome wasn't ideal, but, uh, I believe that, that all officers involve did, did what we, we could do, or what we needed to do to, uh, to effect (sic) the arrest," he told KSP.
Nelson said he didn't see anyone use any neck restraint. And Hayden was specifically asked if he put his knee of anything on Martin's neck.
"Not his neck, head area," Hayden told KSP. "I do recall, like, my knee, up, maybe his shoulder areas, uh, over, but other than that, that's it."
The medical examiner testified as to injuries specifically to Martin's neck. In addition, Martin had bruises and cuts on his arms, face and legs.
"He is being strangled the entire time," Simms said. "Even after, he is limp."
Simms said Martin laid limp for more than a minute before deputies checked for a pulse.
"These deputies reacted to a mental health issue, a panic attack, with violence," he said. "They crossed a lot of lines. They know they are not supposed to use these neck restraints and they did it anyway."
Martin was pronounced dead at Springview Hospital in Lebanon, Kentucky, on Dec. 17, 2022.
Simms compared the death to that of George Floyd, the man killed in Minneapolis after Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.
"Everybody knows you don't kneel on his neck unless you are trying to exercise deadly force," he said.
Caroll, who conducted the investigation, interviewed Joseph Jumper with the Department of Criminal Justice Training who said the recruits are taught to avoid head, neck and spine areas as it can lead to deadly force.
Martin's family is angry for many reasons surrounding his death but are most troubled that he died alone on the side of a road trying to yell for help.
"You're talking about a dark, cold, lonely road side of a country road," said Martin's father, Bobby McDougale. "There's nobody around, (but) the people that you should trust to protect and serve. There was no one there, and for him in our eyes to die lonely, cold and just desperate hurts me even worse. It just makes me sick."
Martin and his mother Charlene McDougale
His parents have expressed deep anger and disappointment, especially over the lack of accountability and the grand jury's decision not to bring charges.
"There's nothing that kid did that night to warrant his death," McDougale said in an interview. "Nothing. I don't care what anybody could say. There's, I mean, the facts, the video, the notes, there's nothing he did to warrant his death."
The lawsuit is requesting more than $25 million in damages. A lawsuit against Knopp has already been settled.
"He didn't die of a long term illness," McDougale said. "You're watching him die by the hands of law enforcement. You're watching him die from the hands of other human beings that there was no reason for whatsoever."
This story may be updated.
Joseph "Josie" Martin's December 2022 death was ruled a homicide due to asphyxia caused by use of force from law enforcement.
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