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EXCLUSIVE: Graphic video shows confrontation leading to woman’s death in Coryell County Jail

KCEN Channel 6 obtained footage of the confrontation that led to Kelli Page’s death after her family sued the Coryell County Jail.

CORYELL COUNTY, Texas — On Oct. 8, 2017, 46-year-old Kelli Page died in a Coryell County Jail cell. 

It wasn't until more than a year later that details were revealed. 

The Page family filed a lawsuit against Coryell County for the death on Jan. 30, after a medical examiner ruled Page's death a homicide.

KCEN Channel 6 requested the footage from the jail more than a month ago. We got the video Thursday that showed how Page died.

***WARNING: This video is graphic in nature and not suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.***

At 8:29 a.m., the video shows Page tapped on the window of her cell to get a guard's attention. 

At 8:30 a.m., two guards entered her cell, then seconds later, one of them pepper sprayed her in her face multiple times. 

The video then shows Page grab what appeared to be a blanket by the toilet in the cell and put it over her head. The guard grabbed handcuffs from another guard standing by the door, then he grabbed Page's right arm and threw her to the ground to try to cuff her, the video shows. 

During the struggle, the guard appeared to hold her face down to the ground and the guard by the door grabbed Page's arm to help restrain her. 

The guard that sprayed and tossed Page to the ground then hit her in her side with his knee twice, the video shows.     

At 8:31 a.m., the video shows a guard appearing to talk into his radio, then punch Page in the face after she reached for something on the ground.

The guard seemed to keep his fist raised at Page as the guards continued to try to put the cuffs on her, the video showed. Page was lying on her back and appeared to slowly try to sit up. 

As she was moving up, the video shows the guard elbow Page in the face.

Page was again shifting on the ground, then the guard appeared to punch her in the face again, the video showed. 

At 8:32 a.m., both guards then forced Page to lie face down while they cuffed her, appearing to continue to put their weight on her upper and lower body. 

At 8:34 a.m., the guards seemed to keep their weight on Page for about a minute and a half, her legs were moving up and down. Her legs stopped moving and the guards continued to put their weight on her, the video shows.

Page's body appeared to be limp and lifeless. 

The video shows the guards stand up and flip Page's body over. You then see the guard that hit Page multiple times during the struggle shake her. 

At 8:35 a.m., the guard appears to talk into his radio again.  The other guard takes the handcuffs off of Page. 

At 8:36 a.m., the guards appear to examine her limp body, then one guard attempts CPR. 

At 8:37 a.m., one of the guards leaves the cell, while the CPR attempt continues. 

At 8:38 a.m., the guard returns with a device to give breaths to Page, and the guard attempting CPR uses the device.

About 30 seconds later, a third guard comes into the cell.

At 8:39 a.m., a fourth guard with blue gloves took over the CPR attempt. 

At 8:40 a.m., the third guard grabs a cellphone from a guard wearing blue gloves and taps the screen. 

At 8:42 a.m., a crew of emergency medical technicians comes to the cell with an AED defibrillator. 

At 9:14 a.m., the EMTs continued to attempt to save Page's life, until her body was covered.

At 9:16 a.m., the footage ends with the EMT crew leaving and shutting the door of the cell.

KCEN Channel 6 reached out to Coryell County attorney Brandon Belt for comment. He said all questions regarding the lawsuit should go to Eric Johnston and Julie Doss, the attorneys the county hired for the case. 

J. Eric Magee will represent defendant Steven Lovelady, who was one of the guards, according to court documents. The other guard, Wesley Pelfrey, will be represented by S. Cass Weiland, court documents said. 

"Being a jailer in the state of Texas is a very difficult job to do and I think ultimately he'll (Wesley Pelfrey) be exonerated," Weiland said in a statement to Channel 6.

All of the attorneys representing the county and guards requested more time to respond to the plantiffs' complaint. 

The plantiffs' attorney, Dean Malone, accepted all the requests for more time to either file an answer or plead in response to his clients' complaint.

The defendants have until March 18 to respond to the complaint.

"This is just a real tragedy. There was never really any need for it to happen," Malone said. "The video speaks for itself. The jailers should not have gone in there and exercised the force they did with her for what they viewed as a major infraction, and quite frankly, looking at that video, I just don't see it."

Read the full lawsuit the Page family filed against the county below.

 

 

   

 

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