Jerod Draper was a 40-year old American father from Georgetown, Indiana who died in custody of Harrison County Jail in 2018.[1] Draper had ingested methamphetamine prior to his arrest for fleeing a traffic stop.[2] While incarcerated, Draper began showing symptoms of a methamphetamine overdose.[3] Guards stripped him naked and placed him in a medical isolation cell. When his condition worsened, he was placed in a restraint chair where guard Sgt. Matt Hulsey and jail nurse Michael Gregory tased him seven times in 15 minutes, stepped on his bare feet, and applied pain compliance techniques.[4]
Harrison County Sheriff's Office initially refused to release surveillance video, but after successful appeal by journalists from IndyStar, footage was released showing officers placing the taser directly over Draper's heart.[5] The Indiana State Police did not conduct an investigation into his death,[6] and Draper's family settled a lawsuit after Harrison County Prosecutor Otto Schalk declined to prosecute any of the officers involved.[7] The coroner ruled his death as an overdose.[8]
Draper's death was featured in the documentary Safe Place, as part of an investigative series into over 300 deaths that took place in Southern Indiana jails between 2010 and 2020.[9]