Mark Spratt
Mark Spratt, 24, of Fontana, died in January 2023 while held at a Riverside County jail. According to his family's federal lawsuit, his cellmate beat him and threw him over a second-story railing, and he died at a hospital. The suit says deputies should never have housed the two men together and that an officer opened the cell door remotely, against safety protocol, and it alleges the attack was racially motivated. The sheriff's office disputes that account and says the two men had shared a cell for three months without incident.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody (neglect alleged). His family's lawsuit says deputies wrongly housed him with his cellmate and that an officer remotely opened the cell door against safety protocol, while the sheriff's office says a fellow inmate was arrested in connection with his death.
Reported by: his family's lawsuit (family or their lawyers); sheriff's office (the agency that held him).
Lawsuit: His family filed a federal lawsuit alleging that deputies wrongly paired him with the cellmate who attacked him and threw him over a second-story railing in January 2023.