Ohio county agrees to $7M settlement over man's death after jail guards
restrained him, family says
[October 01, 2025]
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — The family of a man who died after
being restrained in an Ohio county jail said Tuesday that they have
reached a $7 million settlement agreement with the county and are
pushing officials there to prevent something like the death from
happening again.
A lawyer for the family of Christian Black, who died March 26, said
Montgomery County has taken responsibility and officials there have
indicated they would take steps, such as adding inpatient beds in the
jail for people in need of mental health help.
But the lawyer, Michael Wright, also told reporters at a news conference
that he and Black's family want to see more, such as jail officers
charged and convicted in their son's death.
Christian Black's mother, Misty Black, said the settlement in the
family's lawsuit against Montgomery County doesn't end her pursuit of
justice for her son.
“This check doesn’t stop the criminal side,” Misty Black told reporters.
"It's not going to make me go away. I’m here. Justice for Christian
Black. I won't stop until justice is served.”
Christian Black, 25, was in the jail after he crashed a stolen car,
police have said. There, video from inside the jail released by Black's
family and attorneys showed Black inside a cell, yelling and repeatedly
banging his fist and head against a glass door.

Nine deputies gathered outside the cell, with some rushing in. They
pinned Black to the floor and put handcuffs on him before wrestling him
into a restraint chair, the video showed.
Black’s head flopped and slumped while he was in the restraint chair.
The video showed that jail staff checked Black’s eyes, took his blood
pressure and rubbed his chest while he was unresponsive in the chair.
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This image taken from video released by the Montgomery County
Sheriff's Office, shows law enforcement surrounding Christian Black
inside the Montgomery County Jail on March 24, 2025, in Dayton,
Ohio. (Montgomery County Sheriff's Office via AP)

About nine minutes passed between the time he was put in the chair
and when the jail staff started CPR, the family’s attorneys have
said.
Black died two days after he was taken to a hospital. The county
coroner’s office has said that Black likely died from positional
asphyxia, which happens when the chest can’t expand, starving the
body of oxygen. His death was ruled a homicide by the coroner.
In a statement, Montgomery County's administrator, Michael Colbert,
and the sheriff's office expressed sympathy for Black's family.
“We recognize that no amount of money can ever replace him,” Colbert
said.
The county's board of commissioners is undertaking a broad
commitment to behavioral health needs, including creating a new,
nearly $20 million behavioral health unit inside the jail that is
expanding the number of medical beds from 12 to 112, Colbert said.
No jail personnel have been criminally charged, and the Montgomery
County sheriff's office declined comment on the settlement, saying
an investigation was ongoing.
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