An Oregon woman arrested after an incident at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant told deputies again and again that she could not breathe as she was being booked into jail, shortly before she died, newly released video shows.
Gerlinde Spring Lynch, 47, died at 11.42pm on February 18 while she was being processed at the Clackamas County Jail in Oregon City. She had been taken into custody about an hour earlier over allegations that she damaged property in a KFC parking lot.
Disturbing jail footage shows at least four deputies struggling to force Lynch into a restraint chair and strap her down, KATU reported.
‘I can’t breathe,’ Lynch can be heard saying at least twice. She also pleaded with officers to ‘let me go.’
In the video, deputies appear to tighten a belt around Lynch’s stomach while pulling and repositioning her in the chair.
Moments later, officers leaned Lynch forward in an effort to remove what were described as ‘tight’ handcuffs, but the effort stalled when the key snapped off inside the lock.
After Lynch was brought upright again, one deputy asked the others to check whether she was still breathing. A nurse was then called over urgently, and CPR was started.
Lynch’s father, Ted Riggle, filed a notice of tort on Wednesday, formally signaling his intent to ‘bring both federal civil rights claims and state wrongful death claims’ against the county, according to the outlet.
Video showed the moment 47-year-old Gerlinde Spring Lynch died in February as she was being booked into Clackamas County Jail in Oregon City
Lynch had been arrested on February 18 around 10.30pm after allegedly ‘pulling up plants’ and ‘throwing rocks’ at a KFC restaurant in downtown Oregon City
The medical examiner found that Lynch died of cardiac arrest because of methamphetamine toxicity, physical restraint, obesity and hypertensive cardiovascular disease.
Lynch had 1500 ng/ml of methamphetamine in her system when she died, according to a toxicology test.
The medical examiner ruled Lynch’s death a homicide. That was a medical, not a legal, conclusion.
Riggle’s attorney, Chad Stavley, noted the result of the autopsy in the notice of tort.
He added that the restraint chair’s instructions ‘were available to and should have been known by CCSO deputies and jail supervisory staff,’ per the notice reported by KATU.
Lynch’s dad’s attorney claimed that the instructions came in bold red text and said: ‘IMPORTANT: Do not lean detainee forward. Remove handcuffs from the back of the chair while they are seated upright.’
Stavley added that the footage showed Lynch ‘urinating on herself while restrained in this forward–bent position with multiple deputies on top of her.’
The Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office said June 22 that personnel from the Sheriff’s Office had not been criminally negligent in Lynch’s death.
The investigation determined that evidence of criminal negligence ‘falls well below proof beyond a reasonable doubt.’
‘Lynch’s heart disease, the toxic amount of methamphetamine in her system and resistance to restraint unfortunately created the perfect storm of issues that night,’ the statement said.
The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office and the Milwaukie Police Department investigated Lynch’s death.
Their findings were based on witness interviews, statements from arresting officers and Corrections Deputies, Lynch’s autopsy, her toxicology reports, the involved deputies’ training records for involved deputies and video footage.
An officer who responded to the KFC reported that Lynch was ‘largely incoherent’ with soil around her mouth
Lynch had been released from Coffee Creek Correctional Facility on February 13 following a two-year sentence for first degree criminal mischief, the DA’s Office said.
She was arrested five days later in Wilsonville after allegedly trespassing on private property and pulling up plants.
Lynch was ‘disoriented but compliant,’ according to the police officer who arrested her.
She was booked into the Clackamas County Jail at 3pm and released on her own recognizance three hours later.
However, Lynch was taken into custody again at 10.30pm after allegedly causing a disturbance at a KFC in downtown Oregon City.
An employee reported that Lynch was ‘pulling up plants, throwing rocks, and moving 70–pound boulders around the drive–thru area,’ authorities said.
One of the Oregon City police officers who responded to the scene reported that Lynch was ‘largely incoherent’ with soil around her mouth and carrying leaves from bushes in both hands.
She then resisted arrest, forcing four officers to step in and get her into a police car, the DA’s Office said.
The DA’s Office added that it took officers roughly 20 minutes to get Lynch out of their car because she refused to exit and had wrapped and entangled herself in the seat belts.
Lynch ‘appeared exhausted and was breathing heavily,’ according to deputies.
When deputies tried taking her to the booking area in a wheelchair, she ‘slid to the ground,’ the DA’s Office said.
Lynch had already been booked into the Clackamas County Jail (pictured) at 3pm on the day of her death before being released on her own recognizance
At that point, deputies used a restraint chair ‘not for its intended purpose, but because it had an angled back and she could be wheeled to the booking area without her sliding out.’
Lynch was not strapped in the chair initially, but ‘she arched her back and kicked her feet,’ the DA’s Office said.
After that, the restraint chair began being used for ‘its intended purpose,’ according to the statement.
A waist strap was also applied to Lynch after she ‘defeated attempts to get her ankles strapped in the chair’ and spit towards a corrections deputy.
Once Lynch was cuffed and taken to the booking area, the DA’s Office said that she ‘continued struggling.’
Deputies then ‘leaned Lynch forward to remove her handcuffs, but the key broke off in the lock, delaying the removal by approximately 60 seconds.’
That was when authorities said Lynch ‘stopped resisting and became non–responsive.’
She was declared dead shortly after 11.40pm after law enforcement and emergency medical services tried reviving her, per the DA’s Office.
The Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office told Our News Outlet on Friday night that it was ‘not commenting on this case beyond the news release issued on June 22,’ referring to the investigation’s findings.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Stavley, the attorney for Lynch’s father, as well as the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, for further comment.
