CHARLOTTE — Newly filed federal court documents are raising questions about how the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation handled the death of former Johnson C. Smith University football player Jovontay Williams while he was in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police custody in 2022.
A transcript of a recorded conversation shows a state medical examiner pressing SBI agents for details about how officers restrained Williams before his death.
Williams, 32, was tackled and handcuffed on a back porch after officers responded to a report of someone outside a home, according to the Charlotte Observer.
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Police body-camera footage shows Williams repeatedly saying he could not breathe while officers kept him restrained for more than 20 minutes.
He was taken to a hospital unconscious and died about seven hours later.
The medical examiner, Dr. Susan Venuti, told SBI agents she needed more information to determine how Williams died.
According to the transcript, agents initially described Williams as being “assisted down to the ground” and said he was only briefly restrained, descriptions that the footage did not appear to support.
Venuti warned that without additional information, she could be forced to classify his cause of death as “undetermined.”
The conversation also shows an SBI supervisor discussing Williams’ possible drug use and raising the possibility of fentanyl exposure.
Toxicology testing later found no fentanyl in Williams’ system, though cocaine, marijuana and a compound found in Xanax were detected.
After investigators provided the medical examiner’s office with body-camera footage, Venuti incorporated details from the video into her autopsy report.
She ultimately determined Williams died from complications of multisystem organ failure, an enlarged heart and cocaine toxicity with hyperthermia.
The report classified the cause as undetermined, stating that the extent to which his arrest and restraint contributed to his death was uncertain.
The transcript is part of a federal civil lawsuit filed by Williams’ family against the city of Charlotte.
The case continues to examine the circumstances surrounding his death and the actions of the officers involved.
A hearing on motions for summary judgment is scheduled in the case.