Dallas jailers not indicted in Arlington man’s death

A grand jury declined on Wednesday to indict four jailers involved in an Arlington man’s death in Dallas County, The Associated Press reported.

Joseph Hutcheson, 48, an Arlington handyman, died Aug. 1 after a struggle with deputies on the lobby floor of the Dallas County Jail last year.

The jail officers remain on the Dallas County Sheriff's Department staff, sheriff's spokeswoman Melinda Urbina said.

The Dallas County medical examiner's office concluded that Hutcheson died from the combined toxic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine, compounded by heart problems due to high blood pressure and the stress to his body associated with the struggle with sheriff's deputies and being restrained by handcuffs. His death was ruled a homicide.

The decision was disappointing to Hutcheson's family but not surprising, family attorney Scott Palmer said.

"The family will have to let all this sink in and will move onto the next chapter, which is filing the lawsuit and holding the jailers accountable," Palmer told The Dallas Morning News.

This story was originally published June 16, 2016 at 9:47 AM with the headline "Dallas jailers not indicted in Arlington man’s death."