*As one of the nation’s leading forensic pathologists, Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr. has often been called on to render his expertise to cases involving people who somehow died while interacting with law enforcement officials in various circumstances. The circumstances of death range from when individuals are first stopped and questioned by law enforcement officers, arrested and transported to jail, or while jailed under the supervision of law enforcement personnel.
Following the recent death of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old African American who died three days after he was viciously beaten in Memphis, Tennessee, by five of the city’s police officers, Mitchell, an African American and longtime advocate for sweeping changes to the procedures of reporting deaths of individuals in police custody, spoke out on behalf of the National Medical Association (NMA).
“The National Medical Association is calling for a national response for the immediate development of a federal office responsible for the review of all fatal police excessive-use-of-forces cases occurring in local jurisdictions,” said Mitchell, the organization’s Speaker of the House of Delegates. “We also want the immediate discontinuation of police practices that include threatening maneuvers like baton beatings, choke holds, and placing weight or force on a restrained person’s neck and torso.”
The NMA is the largest and oldest national organization representing Black physicians. Its collective voices of more than 50,000 Black doctors have consistently called for the cease of excessive use of force by police, which NMA considers a critical and out-of-control “public health issue.” The organization remains committed to addressing issues of social determinants, structural violence, and systemic racism, all fostering an environment leading to the disproportionate policing of communities of color.
Mitchell and NMA want to see reforms that mandate police officers to voluntarily report any witnessed unauthorized or excessive use of force by a fellow officer and improve the accuracy and availability of data on death in custody by including a “death in custody” checkbox on the standard death certificates.
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And Mitchell and NMA seek enforced state, local, and federal compliance with H.R. 1447, the federal Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013.
“One thing that is near and dear to my heart is getting a checkbox on the death certificate that says death in custody – yes or no,” said Mitchell, who has performed more than 1,400 autopsy examinations, many on individuals who died while in some stage of police custody.
Mitchell said he is appreciative of the technological advancements that have had a great impact on performing autopsies to reveal more answers.
“As forensic pathologists, we watch a lot of videos, particularly now with the advent of body-worn cameras by the police, community surveillance cameras, and bystanders’ cellphone footage,” Mitchell said. “We actually count on it because we appreciate when there is an objective account of how these injuries were sustained.”
Mitchell continued: “During the autopsy, we can see the bruises, the collections of blood, the hemorrhages, the fractures and rips of tissues,” Mitchell explained. “The ability to watch the video makes the forensic pathologist much smarter when interpreting injuries because when you can see the video and correlate the findings, then the next time when you don’t have a video, you can extrapolate the type of sources of those injuries.”
Mitchell didn’t become one of America’s leading forensic pathologists and experts without first building an impressive and structured foundation on which to stand and provide expert opinions. Mitchell, who earned a Medical Degree from the New Jersey Medical School, began the study of forensic science and violence prevention as a forensic biologist for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – DNA Unit in January 1997. He was the first African American male to work as a forensic biologist for the FBI.
Over the ensuing years, Mitchell has worked as the Regional Medical Examiner in Newark, New Jersey. He was also the Assistant Deputy Chief Medical Examiner in charge of Medicolegal Death Investigations at Harris County (New Jersey) Institute of Forensic Sciences. And Mitchell’s resume includes his tenure as Chief Medical Examiner in Washington D.C.
In 2021, Howard University College of Medicine named Mitchell Chair of Pathology.
Outside of the United States, he has lectured as a forensic pathologist in Egypt, Bangladesh, London, and numerous African countries.
While there is an uptick in cases where death is the end result for people – mostly African Americans – in various stages of police custody, Mitchell remains somewhat optimistic about what’s ahead.
“I’m hopeful we will find ways to stop the death of people in custody,” he said. “Unfortunately, across the country, the deaths of those in custody are not being reported properly, if at all. But having faith without works is dead, so we have to keep working for these things to change.”
Mitchell said people who want to do something to address these types of deaths should reach out to their state legislators and federal members of congress and tell them that their constituents want them to advocate for legislation that will put a “death in custody” checkbox on death certificates.
“Right now, the public health infrastructure does not count how many people die while in custody,” Mitchell explained. “The National Medical Association and I think that understanding how individuals die in custody will help us get a better handle on this problem that’s not unique in the United States but is absolutely egregious in most instances.”
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