Strapped to the 'Devil's Chair' and 'pepper-sprayed to death': Horrific fate of mentally ill grandfather 'tortured by police until he died'

Nick Christie, 62, was detained by Florida police in March 2009

Had been suffering depression and had a 'mental breakdown'

No-one has ever been charged following the incident

Relatives now suing Lee Country Sheriff's Department for 'wrongful death'



A mentally ill grandfather died after police officers strapped him naked to a chair, smothered him with a 'spit hood' and pepper-sprayed him 10 times during a 43-hour ordeal, it has been claimed.

Nick Christie, 62, was allegedly tortured in the 'Devil's Chair' at Lee County jail after being detained by Florida police officers in March 2009 following a 'mental breakdown'.

The hood, designed to stop him from spitting at officers, meant he could not escape the noxious spray's fumes - and he was never allowed to clean the residue from his body.

His family is now suing Lee County Sheriff's Department for 'wrongful death'.

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Tortured: Nick Christie was placed in a 'Devil's Chair' and repeatedly pepper-sprayed during a 43-hour ordeal, it has been claimed

The retired boilermaker had suffered from heart disease and emphysema, put down to his years as a smoker and of continual exposure to asbestos

The incident has raised concern about the behaviour of U.S. police officers, especially as no-one has ever been charged in connection with the alleged crime.

It is not clear who exactly took the shocking photograph, which was later handed to FOX 13's news team, of Christie strapped into the chair with a hood over his face.



The retired boilermaker, from Ohio, had suffered from heart disease and emphysema, put down to his years as a smoker and of continual exposure to asbestos.

He was being treated for depression when he decided to take some time out and visit his brother in Fort Myers.

Prior to the trip, his doctor moved away, leaving no-one to manage his emotional state or possible side effects of his drugs.

His wife Joyce was so worried about his trip that she contacted Lee County police to ask them to keep an eye out for him.



She also asked a captain from the Girard, Ohio, police to urge his Florida counterparts to take him to hospital if they found him.

Christie was first arrested on March 25 for being drunk in a public place. This has subsequently been contested as he may merely have been in a severely confused state.

He was released after telling jail attendants of his various medical conditions. Two days later, on March 27, he was arrested for trespassing at the hotel where he was staying.

Shocking: Nick Christie, pictured in the restraining chair at Lee County jail

Moved: Nick Christie was eventually taken to hospital, after 43-hours of what has been claimed was 'torture' at the hands of deputies

Nicholas DiCello, whose Cleveland firm Spangenberg Shibley & Liber has filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of his estate, said it was a 'minor' offence.

He said: 'He was having another mental episode. He was bewildered, acting crazy, and so the hotel got fed up and asked him to leave. When he didn't go, they called the police.'

Worried: Joyce Christie said she had been concerned about her husband's trip to Florida

DiCello said jail staff did not screen Christie's mental health before he was jailed, even though they had the list of his conditions from his first arrest, and locked his medications in a truck.

He was never given any drugs during his 43 hours in custody, he also claimed. The trouble started when Christie, who was uncooperative from the time of his arrest, became angry.

Deputies responded by directly spraying him or fogging his cell with pepper spray at least 10 times. He was never allowed to wash the spray off.

Other inmates in the jail told Fort Myers News-Press that the blasts were so strong the secondary effects caused them to gag.

Christie was then placed into a restraining chair to bind inmates at both wrists, both ankles, and across the chest.

Inmates, along with a deputy trainee named Monshay Gibbs, have already testified that Christie was sprayed at least two more times after he had been strapped to the chair.

He was also stripped naked, and outfitted with a spit mask, a hood designed to prevent inmates from spitting on jail personnel.

But the mask kept the pepper spray close to his nose and mouth, meaning he kept inhaling it for six hours. Christie, whose wife Joyce flew to Florida on hearing of his arrest, is said to have pleaded with officers by saying the mask made it difficult for him to breathe.

DiCello added: 'She was actually relieved to hear he had been arrested She thought they had responded to her pleas for help, that they would take him to a hospital to be treated.'

Unaccounted for: No one at Lee County Sheriff's Department has ever been charged over the horrific incident

Mrs Christie was not allowed to see her husband who, on March 29, went into respiratory distress and was taken to the Gulf Coast Medical Centre in Fort Myers.

It was there that doctors had to repeatedly change their gloves because of the amount of pepper spray on his body, hospital staff said.

Christie suffered multiple heart attacks over the next two days before being declared brain dead and his life support switched off on March 31.

Deputy Medical Examiner Dr Robert Pfalzgraf later noted in his autopsy report that, two days after his death, brown-orange liquid pepper spray was still all over Christie's body.

Pfalzgraf ruled the death a homicide, as Christie's heart gave out due to stress from his exposure to pepper spray. An internal investigation concluded there no wrongdoing on the part of any Lee County deputy.

