What bodycam video shows — and doesn’t — from man’s death at Macon jail
Editor’s note: This story contains details, images and video of a fatal incident at the Bibb County Jail and may be disturbing to some readers.
Video footage released by the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office Friday shows the minutes before Stephen Fossett’s death at the Bibb County Jail, nearly a year after it happened and just days after the deputies involved were found to not be criminally liable.
The roughly 10-minute long video provided to The Telegraph under open records law was captured May 25, 2024, and showed several officers fighting to restrain Fossett for several minutes, deploying their tasers, yelling at him and handcuffing him.
The video provided only shows the deputies finding Fossett after he had escaped the infirmary and tasing him in an attempt to put handcuffs on him. It ends with multiple deputies carrying Fossett into a gurney and strapping him in. There are aspects of the incident that are not shown on the video provided. Prior to the disorder with officers, Fossett was found sitting in a shower, which led deputies to take him to the infirmary.
The struggle began when a nurse attempted to administer Narcan, but Fossett then escaped, according to court documents and investigative records previously reviewed by The Telegraph.
Fossett, who was in jail on trespassing charges, died minutes after the events of the video.
When asked for comment Monday on the video, an attorney for Fossett’s family said this video release still did not represent full transparency.
“While we are aware that some footage concerning Mr. Fossett has been released to certain media organizations, the full unedited footage that the Fossett family and its legal team have requested repeatedly has to this day not been released,” attorney Nathan Fitzpatrick said. “Our requests for transparency from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office are still unanswered and we will not be satisfied by the spoon feeding of pieces of footage at their discretion to the media.
“There is no basis for the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office to hold hostage the full disclosures mandated by Georgia law. This family and community deserves better.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation declared Fossett’s death a homicide, but Macon-area District Attorney Anita Howard ruled April 9 that his death was ultimately due to the toxic effects of synthetic marijuana that he had consumed, and those effects were complicated by the struggle, the restraining and the use of the taser.
His schizophrenia, as well as a pulmonary emphysema and a bridged left anterior descending coronary artery also contributed to his death, Howard said.
Attorneys for Fossett’s family, Fitzpatrick and Mawuli Davis, argued for criminal charges to be brought against Cpl. Cynthia Flournoy and Cpl. Curtis Wilson, who tased him during the struggle. But Howard said April 9 that criminal charges against them “are not legally warranted.”
“The evidence shows that the officers were responding to a rapidly evolving situation with an inmate who had consumed (synthetic marijuana, also known as K2 or MDMB-4en-PINACA), became combative, and attempted to flee while in custody,” Howard said.
Howard said despite multiple trigger pulls from deputies during the struggle, the combined deployment time “was 13.24 seconds, which was within the 15-second threshold recommended in training.” Prolonged periods of taser use can be heard in the video, but the video does not show how long the taser had actually hit Fossett.
When asked whether more evidence would be released to the public, Sheriff David Davis reiterated his comment when Howard’s decision to not press charges was first announced.
“My sincere condolences and those of the members of the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office goes out to Mr. Fossett’s family,” Davis said. “In regard to the findings of the district attorney, Mr. Fossett’s death was investigated in great detail by the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office with guidance and review by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. There was also detailed technical information provided by the taser manufacturer. All of these findings were given to DA Howard for any Prosecutorial decisions she may make.”
What the video shows
The video starts with deputies looking for Fossett. Then, some seconds later, a taser is heard, which leads deputies to run toward the source of the noise. Deputies find Fossett lying in the corner of a locker room.
Fossett swung his arms and flailed his legs as deputies tased him. As the struggle carried on, a deputy pulled him out of the room and into a hallway, knocking over a box and a trash can in the process, the video shows.
Once he was in the hallway, a deputy could be heard instructing other deputies to “keep tasing” Fossett. As deputies kept tasing him, Fossett kept flailing his legs, according to the video.
One of the deputies pulled out a pair of handcuffs, but struggled to put them on Fossett’s wrists. He was heard grunting and screaming as tasers kept being deployed. Tasers were no longer heard once multiple deputies restrained Fossett with their bodies, the video showed.
Deputies were able to put a cuff on one of his wrists, but were unsuccessful in locking the cuff on the other wrist as he tensed his free arm from being grabbed by the deputies. His ankles were cuffed as well, the video later showed.
“Release, I’m not playing,” said one of the deputies in the video to Fossett. “(Expletive), release!”
Explicit language was frequent in the video.
Deputies then instructed him to roll over, but Fossett kept tensing his body. Four deputies are seen watching the situation as other deputies attempt to hold him in place, the video shows.
A nurse administered Narcan as deputies held Fossett in place until a gurney arrived. As they waited, deputies commented to each other about how strong Fossett was during the struggle.
Deputies then moved Fossett from the floor to the gurney and strapped him in place. As Fossett was being strapped into the gurney, a deputy mentioned how she was hit by the taser earlier in the altercation.
The video ends with Fossett’s head being lifted with the gurney, and then he was taken to the infirmary.
This story was originally published April 21, 2025 at 1:43 PM.
