KMBC 9 Chronicle: Restrained — Multi-year investigation finds 102 wrongful death or injury claims linked to law enforcement use of restraints

ShareUpdated: 9:30 PM CDT Apr 27, 2025I

Matt FlenerKMBC 9 News Investigative Reporter

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —The following documentary contains intense footage. The videos are extremely difficult to watch, but necessary to understand what happened.

A nationwide KMBC 9 News investigation has found 102 people in 29 states who died or reported injuries after law enforcement’s use of restraint chairs or full-body restraints.Those restraint systems are designed to control inmates during severe mental health or behavioral problems.But KMBC’s investigation found a pattern of deputies, officers and jail guards ignoring manufacturer warnings and medical checks, keeping inmates fully restrained for hours, or even days.Multiple law enforcement agencies have now started reviewing their own use of full-body restraint systems based on deaths and injuries found in KMBC’s two-year investigation.Lawmakers have taken notice, too.“Accountability in all of these cases is critically important,” said Missouri Rep. Bill Allen, R-Clay County, who is planning legislation based on KMBC’s findings.“But accountability comes after the incident happened. We have to move into prevention of this from happening in the first place.”

FINDING CASES, GETTING ANSWERS, SAVING LIVES KMBC analyzed hundreds of federal, state and municipal court documents and media reports showing concerns about restraint chairs or full-body restraint devices across the United States between 2014-2024.KMBC 9 Investigates found 54 people died after time in a full-body restraint device in U.S. jails or prisons, according to federal or state civil lawsuits and criminal cases against officers. KMBC also found 48 people claimed mental or physical injuries following time in a full-body restraint device in similar court records.

A handful of those people spent time in a restraint chair after being pepper sprayed, stunned with electricity or placed in a dangerous prone restraint position.Autopsies don’t always list the full-body restraint device as a cause of death. Sometimes it’s a drug overdose. Other times, it’s a heart attack.But lawsuits are filed.

And taxpayers pay.Families, friends, jail administrators and lawmakers who saw KMBC’s findings are now demanding changes inside county jails and corrections facilities into how — or if — restraint chairs should be used.They want to save lives

Newton County, Missouri, corrections officers put Forrest Stockton in a restraint chair after he flailed and moaned in the back of a police cruiser on June 29, 2018.They wheeled him into a detox cell and chained the restraint chair to the floor.KMBC is not naming the deputies or any other defendants in the lawsuit now that the case is settled. No one involved had to admit fault, according to the settlement.What happened next haunts his family and friends.Hearst Owned. A Newton County, Missouri, deputy holds duct tape while another deputy holds a protective rubber helmet on Stockton’s head.Before Forrest Stockton died, two jail deputies used duct tape to secure a rubber helmet on his head. Former Newton County Sheriff Chris Jennings insists the duct tape never attached to Stockton’s skin. A deputy believed the helmet would protect Stockton’s head from the restraint chair’s rubber handles, according to an investigation after Stockton’s death.But Stockton’s mom found duct tape in her son’s beard after his autopsy.

“They never even took him out of that restraint chair until all the transportation arrived to take him to Kansas City for an autopsy,” said Kris Stockton, Forrest’s mom.The medical examiner said Forrest Stockton died of acute methamphetamine intoxication.His friends and family say he needed a hospital. Maybe some IV fluids and a Gatorade. He was overdosing and overheated. He was never charged or suspected of a crime. Police brought him to jail on a 12-hour safe-keeping hold.A restraint chair, helmet and duct tape never kept him safe or alive, they believe.“Do you know to this day, not a single person with Newton County, not the sheriff, not any of them have called me and said anything about it?” Kris Stockton said.“I’m sorry for their loss,” Jennings told KMBC 9 Investigates. “But I don't know anything that we could've done different.”Jennings believes deputies watched Forrest Stockton on camera the whole time.“He was heavily monitored,” he said. “The only mistake there is they should've went to the hospital. They could not have saved him, but he should've went to the hospital.”

The federal lawsuit against Newton County and others involved said deputies failed to adequately monitor his condition inside the jail.Jennings ordered a new jail procedure after Forrest Stockton’s death, requiring a doctor to clear someone before a 12-hour safe-keeping hold at the jail.“Where a facility screws up, is if that happens to them happens to them and they don't review it. Don't change policies,” Jennings said. “We did review it. We did change policies from that point on to make sure that did not happen again.”But neither the new policy nor the court settlement will bring Forrest Stockton back.“This is the first step is shining the light on it,” Kris Stockton said. “The next step is making changes.”

CHANGES, REVIEWS TAKING PLACE AFTER KMBC'S INVESTIGATION County sheriffs in both Kansas and Missouri have started reviewing their restraint chair policies and usage after learning about KMBC 9’s investigation.KMBC 9 Investigates found 16 inmates shocked with a Taser or stunned with electricity while in restraint chairs across the country. Those cases have totaled at least $10 million in settlements, according to federal court records

.After KMBC’s investigation, the Clay County, Missouri, Sheriff’s Office has updated its use of restraint policy to prohibit Taser or stun gun use on fully restrained inmates. The language is the strongest change in policy since KMBC’s nationwide investigation began.Clay County now bans using stun guns or Tasers on fully restrained inmates unless an officer believes it would help them get compliance placing a detainee in a restraint chair.“Changing our Emergency Restraint Chair policy to prohibit any kind of weapon use – to include conducted energy devices – once an individual is restrained was a no-brainer,” said Clay County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sarah Boyd. “Using such devices on an inmate who is fully restrained in the emergency restraint chair was already banned in practice, and now that ban is enshrined in policy.”Boyd said once someone is in a restraint chair, the risk of harm to others or themselves is fully mitigated.“So the use of any kind of weapon constitutes criminal assault, and that will never be tolerated at the Clay County Sheriff’s Office,” Boyd said.Before, its policy on electric weapons only recommended avoiding using those devices on individuals handcuffed or restrained.

Douglas County, Kansas, Sheriff Jay Armbrister said he would consider updating the county’s policy for Taser or stun gun use on inmates fully restrained to restrict their use unless it is the most dire circumstances. That would include if an inmate was biting an officer and would not let go.“I can't think of a scenario where somebody needs to be 'tased' unless it's something very, very serious,” Armbrister said. “Even the scenarios that I think of are hard to believe would ever happen, but unfortunately the world that we live in, this world continues to prove me wrong every day.”KMBC did not find any Taser use or misuse on restrained inmates in Douglas County, but Armbrister welcomed a fresh look at the county’s restraint policy.Douglas County’s most recent corrections academy class also watched a video of an inmate shocked with a Taser in custody referenced in KMBC 9’s investigation looking for ways to improve restraint chair use.McPherson County, Kansas, Jail Captain Arlo Blevins provided KMBC 9 Investigates records of restraint chair use but realized the logs to document use were not fully complete.“A few of these entries leave something to be desired and are vague in their scope,” he said. It was a good reminder, Blevins said, for him and his sergeants to better check officer reports and log entries.“Lessons learned,” he said.Jackson County, Missouri,

Sheriff Darryl Forte did not agree to an on-camera interview about his county’s restraint chair use, however, the sheriff said in an emailed statement he was open to review the county’s policies."Continuous improvement is essential, and I welcome opportunities to evaluate best practices that align with our priorities and enhance our overall operations,” he said.D

DEEPER INVESTIGATION ABOUT RESTRAINT CHAIR POLICIES, RISKS AND USEKris Stockton wants restraint chairs banned in jails and prisons across the country. She is pushing Missouri state lawmakers to advocate to stop using the devices.If bans are not implemented, law enforcement experts tell KMBC more frequent and well-documented training must be required. Another change could include standardized policies for restraint chair usage in all United States jails and prisons.Eighty percent of the cases KMBC 9 Investigates reviewed took place in county jails. Often, those facilities serve as a stopgap for inmates with severe mental health concerns.Sheriffs across the country have pleaded with lawmakers for money to move mentally ill inmates out of jails.But money often goes to other projects. So, law enforcement and corrections officers depend on restraint chairs or multi-point restraint devices to control inmates showing severe signs of stress.The devices are designed to keep inmates and staff safe, strapping down an inmate’s arms and legs.

But Amnesty International wants restraint chairs outlawed. A United Nations committee has called them torture. A top-seller of jail restraint chairs recommends no more than two hours strapped down.Taxpayers have paid millions when law enforcement have ignored manufacturer’s warnings or their own jail or prison policies on full-body restraints.

RESTRAINT CHAIR POLICIES VARY, USAGE RECORDS DIFFICULT TO GET KMBC analyzed full-body restraint policies — or reports about non-usage — from nearly all 219 counties in Kansas and Missouri, following a roadmap for data gathering by the Illinois Answers Project.Some policies KMBC received through public records requests are contained on one page. They offer few simple instructions on restraint chair usage. Others detail multiple checks and balances.But the policies vary widely in both Kansas and Missouri. They show instructions about restraint chair usage open to interpretation by overworked and underpaid jail staffs.KMBC 9 Investigates also worked with Illinois Answers on requesting restraint chair usage records.Illinois Answers revealed from 2019 to 2023, in Illinois, staff restrained someone in a chair nearly every day, totaling more than 5,500 incidents. The investigation also explored the amount of time inmates spent in full-body restraints, including one mentally ill man restrained in a chair for 68 hours. Lawmakers are calling for systemic reform of restraint chair use after Illinois Answers reporting

You can read more of the investigation, starting here.KMBC found that restraint chair usage statistics are much harder to find in Kansas and Missouri than Illinois.Just 16 counties in Missouri and Kansas provided records of restraint chair usage, without charge, to KMBC 9 Investigates.Most county sheriff’s offices charged KMBC hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars to fill those requests, which asked for records from 2018-2024. They would have scrubbed through use of force reports, handwritten logs, jail duty logs, often on overtime, they said. KMBC opted not to pay most fees, instead revealing the lack of a statewide database or system to track restraint chair use in Kansas or Missouri.That lack of analysis — and public accountability when things go wrong — makes it very difficult for the public to track restraint chair usage in both states.

KMBC CHRONICLE EXPLORES FAMILIES' STORIES, SOLUTIONS TO RESTRAINT CHAIR RISKS

Families, law enforcement, manufacturers and state leaders are sharing their experience with full-body restraint systems in "KMBC 9 Chronicle: Restrained." This Chronicle reveals never-before-seen footage, details and solutions to make sure no more people die in restraints inside jails and prisons across the United States.Our work isn't done.KMBC is also planning to present findings to lawmakers, law enforcement and other decision makers to help improve safety of inmates and staff when full-body restraints are used.