Man serving time for aggravated assault on Houston County officer dies in custody.
An inmate at Valdosta State Prison who was convicted of aggravated assault on a police officer and shoplifting from a Centerville shopping mall more than a decade ago died by suicide Tuesday, officials confirmed.
Ryan Rumph was serving 35 years in prison after a Houston County judge found him guilty on two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, felony escape, misdemeanor battery and theft by shoplifting in 2012. Lori Benoit, the manager of communications at the Georgia Department of Corrections, confirmed his death.
The Human and Civil Rights Coalition of Georgia first reported Rumph’s death on social media Tuesday.
Rumph’s body was turned over to the Lowndes County Coroner’s Office, to be transported to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s crime lab for official cause of death, Benoit said. His death is being investigated by the GDC’s Office of Professional Standards. Additional details weren’t available Thursday as the investigation was ongoing, Benoit said.
His charges stemmed from a struggle with police officers after his arrest for shoplifting at The Galleria in Centerville on Nov. 13, 2009. Rumph broke free from custody after a struggle with a police officer outside of the police station, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and his indictment.
He fled to a nearby residential area, where a Houston County sheriff’s deputy found Rumph hiding in the passenger cabin of a pickup truck, records show.
The deputy shot Rumph in the upper torso and, after Rumph briefly gained control of the cop’s gun, the deputy was shot in his left index finger, records show.
Rumph then fled on foot. Centerville police took a shot toward Rumph as he pushed his way into an elderly couple’s home, records say. He was then arrested after he came out of the house. He was intoxicated during the incident, according to previous reporting from The Telegraph.
Rumph was sentenced to 35 years in prison and ordered to stay out of Houston County as a result.
