As legal battle starts, family of man who died in Macon jail remembers his love, impact
A day after filing two lawsuits against various Macon-Bibb County parties, the family of a man who died at the Bibb County Jail nearly two years ago reminisced on his life and what he meant to loved ones.
Mawuli Davis, Nathan Fitzpatrick and Harold Spence, attorneys for Stephen Fossett’s family, filed a federal lawsuit and another in state court on Wednesday, almost exactly two years after Fossett’s death at the jail on May 25, 2024.
As a legal battle between the family and the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office and CorrectHealth Bibb, managers of the jail’s infirmary, starts, the family spoke in a news conference Thursday morning at the Tubman Museum on Stephen Fossett’s character despite a disabling mental health condition.
Family’s tribute to Stephen Fossett
Stephen Fossett, the oldest of his siblings, stepped up as their father figure, the family said. He loved outdoor activities like fishing and hunting. He was also entrepreneurial, wanting to financially support his family, despite his challenges with his mental health.
One of his younger brothers, Keyshawn Fossett, said he looked up to Stephen Fossett as he “knew how to make a way out of nothing,” he said in the Thursday news conference.
The two brothers mowed lawns together when Keyshawn Fossett was in elementary school, “because there’s no excuses, right?” Keyshawn said.
“That’s something he always put on me,” Keyshawn Fossett said. “Great brother, man. You know, that’s something that sticks with me forever.”
Stephen Fossett was a religious man who constantly read the Bible and shared what he learned with his family, according to Angel Fossett-Pew, Stephen’s sister. He loved his family, she said. She had a child a year ago, and wishes her child “could still have that same sense of faith in God,” she said Thursday.
He also was a talented singer, “good enough to make you think that Tevin Campbell was in the room,” Breanna Fossett, the family’s youngest sister, said. He treated the women in his family with respect, so they felt loved.
“Stephen was more than his mental health status,” Breanna Fossett said. “Steven should have been treated like a human being with decency, and Steven’s mental health status should not be a reason that he’s not here today, but we love him, and we keep his name alive.”
Stephen Fossett participated in the Macon Judicial Circuit Mental Health Court’s program for three years. Despite a “few hiccups,” he was determined to graduate and hold himself accountable, according to his mother, Paula Platt.
She called her son a strong man. Whenever he had a schizophrenic episode, he would hold himself accountable and apologize.
“So now that the world knows Stephen better … they (won’t) reduce him to his mental health diagnosis, because he was loved, and he loved deeply,” Davis said.
Summary of what led to the lawsuit
Stephen Fossett died after becoming erratic during a medical distress incident and running away from deputies and nurses when they checked up on him.
Deputies stunned Fossett with a Taser and used their body weight to restrain him. Davis, the family’s attorney, said Thursday that Fossett never attacked the nurses or deputies.
Fossett then died some minutes after he was stunned. An autopsy showed he had synthetic marijuana, or K2, in his bloodstream. Its toxic effects, on top of being stunned and having someone’s body weight on him, contributed to his death, according to the autopsy report.
“I think what people know and understand is that many of our loved ones, loved ones who have mental health issues, will at times self-medicate,” Davis said. “Sadly, the Bibb County Jail is a place where you can self-medicate. It is a place that we know is full of drugs.”
Two years after the incident, the attorneys filed two lawsuits against the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office and CorrectHealth Bibb hoping to hold them responsible for the incident. The deputies involved and Sheriff David Davis also were sued in federal court for various civil rights violations, including “putting hands on him, pulling out batons, pushing all their weight upon him, and, at the very end of it … they give each other a high five,” Davis said in the news conference.
The manager of the jail infirmary and medical personnel in the incident were accused of medical malpractice in a separate suit filed in state court.
The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday evening they’re aware of the lawsuit and a county attorney is expected to respond. CorrectHealth did not respond to requests for comment before publication.
