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Civil rights
activists from Calhoun County joined Oxford police Wednesday for a press conference to clarify what
they said was a misunderstanding within the black community about the June
death of a man in Oxford police custody.
32 year old Melvin Mathews, of
Talladega, died June 7 at the Oxford City Jail shortly after his arrest on a
public intoxication charge. Calhoun County’s coroner Pat Brown has said Mathews died from
drug-related causes. The officials gathered Wednesday said they wanted to quash
rumors to the contrary.
David Baker, president of the Calhoun County chapter of
the NAACP, said he had recently received a call from the national NAACP
organization that a black man may have been beaten to death in custody of
Oxford police in June. Following up on that, Baker contacted Oxford police and
reviewed video and audio of Oxford police arresting Mathews the morning of June
7.
Mathews died inside the jail just minutes after being
brought inside, according to those recordings, .
Calhoun County Coroner Pat Brown said that autopsy results
showed Mathews died from combined drug intoxication. A toxicology report found
traces of the drugs hydrocodone and bath salts, a synthetic drug known to cause
hallucinations and aggression in users, were found in his blood. Mathews also
had nearly twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood, according to the
report.
After reviewing the video and audio, which recorded
Mathews from the time of his arrest until being carried out of the jail by
paramedics, Baker said he found no evidence of any wrongdoing by police.
But Baker said That fact hasn’t stopped many in the black
community from spreading rumors of police abuse.
Baker said that Matthews was treated with respect and
dignity by the Oxford police.
The Rev. Freddy Rimpsey, a local civil rights advocate,
said the group gathered with him Wednesday might be criticized by some members
in the community “who seem to want to divide us” but that they felt the need to
speak out about what they know to be the truth about the incident to quell
public unrest.
