After Jackson County man's 'wrongful arrest' and death, civil rights group seeks answers

Ervin Mathis Sr. was awakened just before midnight on July 4, 2022, by three sheriff's deputies pounding on the side of his mobile home in Jackson County.

"Sheriff's Office, come on out," one of the deputies said.

The 62-year-old Mathis, who has physical and speech impairments from a stroke, shuffled nearly three minutes later to his front door and told the law enforcement officers they were at the wrong house. After he didn't comply, they arrested him for resisting an officer without violence.

He was released from the county jail a day and a half later, and the charges were dropped the next month.

Five months later, he was found dead on his front porch in a shirt and underwear.

On Monday, July 1 – nearly two years to the week of his arrest – local and statewide representatives of the NAACP held a meeting to address what they termed a "wrongful arrest" carried out with excessive force. They are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate.

"What do we seek to gain from this?" said Adrian Abner, president of the Jackson County Branch of the NAACP. "We hope to get a system where our (law enforcement) officers receive proper training."

Recently released body camera footage from the night outraged activists and many in the community. Now, others in Jackson County are coming forward with complaints of their own negative experiences with the sheriff's department.

JCSO did not respond to phone calls or emails from the Tallahassee Democrat seeking comment on the case.

'What did I do?'

Deputies first arrived at Mathis' mobile home in response to a 911 call. A man called the dispatch center saying he "beat (his) woman up" and to come lock him up, according to a recording of the 911 call. But Mathis was the only person there when deputies eventually did a sweep inside the home.

Body camera footage shows deputies telling Mathis to come outside and talk to them as Mathis asks why. Once Mathis finally opens the door, a deputy asks, "Where's your girlfriend at?"

"No," Mathis repeated numerous times.

Mathis is seen trying to walk back into his home, and a deputy grabs his arm to keep him from walking away. Mathis starts to pull away, causing the deputy to pull him to the ground to handcuff him.

In the arrest report, a deputy wrote that Mathis became agitated as they tried to stop him from going back into the mobile home.

"He crouched down slightly as he pulled and contorted his face in an angry manner; he lowered his eyebrows, gritted his teeth and squinted," the report says.

A deputy put him on his stomach and stayed with him until his colleagues cleared the home.

"What did I do?" Mathis asked the deputies as they escorted him to the car.

According to arrest documents, a "further investigation revealed" that deputies had arrived at the house where the 911 call originated from, but Mathis did not place the call. The person who placed the call and its connection to Mathis' residence is still unclear.

Jackson County Sheriff Donnie Edenfield told a WMBB reporter that his deputies followed proper protocols and worked with the information they had from the 911 call.

"A domestic call is usually the No. 1 call that deputies wind up getting shot at, so they couldn't let him go back in there," Edenfield said.

He said he welcomes the Department of Justice or "anyone else who wants to review this."

"Go ahead," he added. "We have nothing to hide. Absolutely nothing."

Deputy questions if they made the right arrest

The deputy, while transporting Mathis to the Jackson County Jail, made several phone calls on the drive to ask a 911 dispatcher and others if they were sure "this is our fellow."

"Is this usually how he sounds, the way he's talking now?" the deputy asked while Mathis mumbled unintelligible words from the back of the patrol car.

Immediately after hanging up with the dispatch center, he made another call: "Well, whether or not it was him, it would still be resisting without (violence), wouldn't it? Because we had reason to believe it was coming from that address? At the very least? ... I just want to make sure."

Mathis made his first appearance in court two days later and was then released, according to court records. About a month later, the charges were dropped by the State Attorney's Office.

"While there was probable cause to charge the defendant, the state has elected not to continue with criminal prosecution based upon the defendant's current health condition," court records say.

Five months later, deputies found Mathis dead outside his mobile home, his body slumped against his front door. A "certifying physician" determined the cause of death was a probable acute stroke and cerebrovascular disease, which affects the blood flow to the brain, according to the death certificate.

Mathis' family said he "had an extensive medical history which included history of seizures, strokes, high blood pressure and diabetes," the death report says.

'His dying, his death was not in vain'

Two years later, Abner said Mathis' "living wasn't in vain; his dying, his death was not in vain either." The Jackson County Branch of the NAACP didn't know about Mathis' story until May, which Abner attributes to the lack of information the family was given.

But now that it is on the organization's radar, they aren't stopping. Dale Landry, the Criminal/Juvenile Justice Committee chair of the NAACP Florida Conference, said he has been in contact with Jason Coody, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, among others. Coody's office said it couldn't confirm or deny any investigation.

Moreover, Landry said because Mathis' death was an unattended death, it should have been investigated in person, but instead he said the medical examiner in Panama City did it all over the phone.

A spokesperson for the District 14 medical examiner's office, which covers Bay County, said the sheriff's office called and discussed the circumstances of Mathis' death. The medical examiner's office then declined to take the case.

In every case of death, the medical examiner's office discusses the circumstances of the death and the deceased's medical history in order to decide whether to take the case. Every initial inquiry is done over the phone, and the circumstances of the death and the manner of death determine whether a representative actually makes a site visit.

Abner added: "This case has definitely opened the floodgate to families coming forward and individuals coming forward with concerns regarding unattended deaths."

Breaking & trending news reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com . Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: After Jackson County man's 'wrongful arrest' and death, civil rights group seeks answers