Mother Of Inmate Who Died At Creek County Jail Wants Justice

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is looking into the death of an inmate at the Creek County Jail.

Mannford Police arrested Ronald Garland earlier this month on a DUI complaint. Weeks after he died, Garland’s mother, Janice Bush, is still struggling with his death.

"I'm having a real hard time with it. There was no reason for it, you know," Bush said.

Mannford Police Chief Lucky Miller said Garland was in their custody less than four hours. Video from the police department shows Garland walking around and laying down.

"Mr. Garland was very courteous with the officers, gave them no problems at all,” Miller said. “He was placed in a cell, by himself, where we had no issues with him at that time."

The chief said they checked on him every hour, and when they handed Garland over to the jail he was in good spirits.

OSBI said during the booking process there was some sort of altercation, so jailers put him in a restraint chair and he quickly became unresponsive.

6/28/2017 Related Story: OSBI Investigates Suspicious Death Of Creek County Inmate

Several days later he died.

"There's no closure here cause there's no reason as to why. Why did he have to die in a police department for a DUI," Garland’s mother asked.

Bush said her son was well-liked by everybody and that he loved to landscape and fish.

She wants to get to the bottom of his death and wants those involved to pay.

"I would like to see them serve some time, or something, for what they've done. They should be punished like everybody else," she said.

Bush said she has more questions than answers and all she wants is justice for her son.

"Definitely want justice. I wanna know why. I want justice for my son. He didn't deserve to die in jail, he did not deserve that," she said.

OSBI is waiting on the medical examiner’s report to determine if Garland’s death was caused by someone else, or by another factor.

The Creek County Sheriff's Office said it will issue a statement Thursday regarding the OSBI investigation.