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Died in jail or a lockup

Mario Terruso

41 years old · died September 16, 2019 · Gerard L. Gormley Justice Facility, Atlantic County, New Jersey

Mario Terruso, 41, died in September 2019 after being taken to the Atlantic County Justice Facility in Atlantic County, New Jersey. His mother, Linda Terruso, said he had called police because someone was after him and he was scared for his life, and his friend Alan Wright said Mario "just wanted help." Wright said Mario begged for water, vomited blood and went an hour without medical attention while staff laughed, accounts the state attorney general's office has declined to comment on. The attorney general said Mario was in urgent need of medical care he did not receive at the jail, and that his heart stopped during a struggle with corrections officers as he was being prepared for a hospital transport. A state grand jury indicted correctional officers and police officers over his death, including manslaughter charges, and defense attorneys dispute the state's account of what happened.

Cause of death, as reported: Killed by staff (disputed; neglect alleged). The New Jersey Attorney General's Office says officers restrained Mario Terruso at the jail and his heart stopped, and a grand jury indicted corrections officers for manslaughter, but the officers' lawyers dispute the state's handling of the case, and a medical examiner's ruling of homicide from blunt-force trauma is contested by the defense, who say he was in a drug-induced fit and resisting; his family's lawsuit claims excessive force, and a fellow inmate says staff laughed as he begged for water and went an hour without medical attention, while the Hamilton officers allegedly took him to the jail instead of a hospital.

Reported by: New Jersey Attorney General's Office (outside investigators); Atlantic County Justice Facility (the agency that held him); medical examiner or coroner; a fellow inmate and friend of 16 years (witnesses); a man held at the jail who said he witnessed events there; his family's lawsuit (family or their lawyers); defense attorneys; a state grand jury.

Lawsuit: His family sued in federal court in 2021 (Terruso-Crespo v. Atlantic County Justice Facility); the case closed in 2024 with no reported payment. Court record: TERRUSO-CRESPO v. ATLANTIC COUNTY JUSTICE FACILITY (D.N.J., 2021).

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