In May 2017, 28-year-old Tory Sanders, a Black man, was taken into custody at the Mississippi County Jail in rural Missouri after stopping for help when he ran out of gas. Sanders had told officers he needed to see a mental health professional and voiced concerns for his life and his children. A jail mental health counselor judged him paranoid, likely from substance use, and recommended hospitalization, but Sanders remained in custody.

Hours later, a team led by then-Sheriff Cory Hutcheson entered Sanders’ cell. According to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his family, Sanders was tackled, pepper-sprayed, and shocked with a stun gun; Hutcheson then knelt on his neck for up to three minutes while another officer allegedly pleaded with him to stop. Sanders lost consciousness and died shortly after. Family-hired and other medical experts disagreed about cause of death, with one pathologist citing asphyxiation from neck compression and others pointing to excited delirium and stimulants found on toxicology.

No criminal charges were filed; Missouri attorneys general Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt declined to prosecute for murder, and the family later settled a wrongful death suit with Charleston for $500,000 in April 2021. Did anyone who knew Tory or was in Charleston in 2017 see or hear anything that could add detail to how the jail handled his custody that day?