Friday, March 05, 1999
Reports on jail death differ
Stun gun left out of one version
BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — While police continue to investigate a death in the Kenton County Jail, they're now looking at why one deputy jailer wrote two different reports about what happened before the prisoner died.
Preliminary autopsy results indicate Michael Labmeier, 48, of College Hill died Jan. 29, likely from a combination of poor health and a struggle with deputy jailers.
At 5-foot-11 and 300 pounds, Mr. Labmeier had heart and lung problems. He had been arrested three times in the week before his death.
But Kenton County Police investigators are checking out all angles anyway, as part of standard procedure, Capt. Ed Butler said. They have learned that one deputy, Doug Lankheit, wrote two reports about what happened between jailers and Mr. Labmeier — and that he threw the first, a potentially more damaging one, away.
In question is whether deputies used a stun gun device on the inmate. Officials initially said they did, but only fired it as a warning to try to make Mr. Labmeier calm down.
Deputy Lankheit's initial report, however, indicated a stun gun was used. His second report did not.
Capt. Butler cautioned against jumping to conclusions that the first report was correct and the second wasn't.
“Everyone involved in an incident like that writes a report,” he said.“This sounds much more sinister than it's really going to be.”
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