An autopsy by the Lake County Coroner’s Office showed a DeMotte man who died in September after an altercation with police at his home has determined that Rhyker Earl, 26, died of natural causes, had cardiovascular disease and did not show evidence of trauma.
Earl died on Sept. 10, two days after his interaction with police and EMTs, when he was removed from life support. Attorneys representing Earl’s family have said he was restrained and held face-down by first responders called to his home for a severe seizure until he stopped breathing, even as he told medics and deputies that he could not breathe.
Jasper County Sheriff Patrick Williamson Sr. has denied that deputies from his department played a role in Earl’s death and has said Earl was handcuffed “for his safety and that of the medical providers. Mr. Earl was in an excited state and did not respond to pleas from deputies or his family to remain calm.”
Williamson called in the Indiana State Police Criminal Investigation Division Lowell Post to investigate, as well as releasing footage from body-worn cameras by officers who responded to the scene.
Sgt. Glen Fifield, public information officer for the Lowell Post, referred all questions to the coroner’s office.
On Wednesday, that office said in a release that Earl died in the Franciscan Health Crown Point Intensive Care Unit and his cause of death was finalized on Nov. 1 after a review of forensic autopsy, medical records and toxicology reports.
The autopsy did not show evidence of trauma but did reveal cardiovascular disease, an enlarged heart and “witnessed cardiac arrest,” according to the release. The manner of death was determined to be natural.
Neither Williamson nor attorneys for Earl’s family, who is represented by Stephen Wagner who practices in Carmel and national civil rights attorney Ben Crump, returned requests for comment.
Crump has said Earl’s death “never should have happened.”
“Why was Rhyker treated like a criminal, not a patient? Why did officers ignore the obvious risks of prone restraint? Why did they ignore his pleas that he could not breathe?” Wagner previously said in a release provided to the Post-Tribune by his office.
According to his obituary, Earl was born in Valparaiso and graduated in 2016 from Kankakee Valley High School. Earl, who had two children, liked to play guitar and listen to music. He enjoyed fishing and drawing, and was an avid rock collector.
alavalley@chicagotribune.com