Dying Prisoner Taunted By Jailers For Three Hours Man Had Swallowed Cocaine During Arrest; 2 Deputies Fired

A black man who swallowed cocaine when he was arrested died after jailers ignored his pleas for help and taunted him in a three-hour ordeal captured on video by a jail surveillance camera.

Two sheriff’s deputies were fired and five others disciplined.

Anderson Tate moaned, thrashed and chanted prayers for more than three hours while bound to a chair Dec. 3 at the St. Lucie County Jail.

“I don’t want to die. I’m burning up,” the 22-year-old said on the video. “I’m 300 degrees. I’ve got too much cocaine in my system.”

Prosecutors will decide whether to bring criminal charges against the officers. Six of the officers are white; the other is Hispanic.

Ellis Rubin, an attorney for Tate’s mother and sister, said he will seek a federal investigation.

“I can’t see them tying a white woman to a chair and taunting her for 3-1/2 hours,” Rubin said.

Tate had been pulled over for not having a license plate and driving without a license. He swallowed some cocaine, but initially refused treatment, St. Lucie County Undersheriff Dennis Williams said.

One of the fired deputies taunted Tate, clapping to the beat of Tate’s chants and fanning him with a clipboard, Williams said.

Officials didn’t become alarmed until the Tate went into convulsions and stopped breathing. He died about 11 hours later at a hospital.