 Thursday, June 4, 2015 - 5:39pm 
 
 Chatham County Coroner: Ajibade Death A Homicide 
 
 The Chatham County Sheriff is defending his department’s use of force amidst reports that a young man died of homicide in police custody earlier this year. The press conference was on the use of tasers by officers on... (Associated Press) 
 
 Chatham County Sheriff Al St Lawrence addresses media during a press conference at the Chatham Sheriff's Office on Thursday, June 4, 2015. Story highlights Attorney for family: "They have hid this from us for five months" 
 
 The coroner says the 21-year-old's death was homicide, result of "blunt force trauma" 
 
 Matthew Ajibade broke female sergeant's nose while being restrained after arrest, police say 
 
 (CNN) The death of a 21-year-old Nigerian student in an isolation jail cell in Savannah, Georgia, on New Year's Day has been ruled a homicide, Chatham County coroner William Wessinger said Thursday. Chatham County Sheriff Al St. Lawrence last month fired nine deputies in connection with the death, and District Attorney Meg Heap has said she plans to seek an indictment from a grand jury. The law defines homicide simply as a death caused by another person, but it's a neutral term that doesn't mean a crime was committed. "There were abrasions around the head and a little bit of blood inside the skull case." Matthew Ajibade's cause of death "is listed as blunt force trauma, which was really a combination of several things that were enumerated in his autopsy report by the GBI," the coroner said, citing "abrasions, lacerations, skin injuries about the head and some other areas of the body. Neither his parents nor their attorneys knew the document had been filed, or what it said about Ajibade's death, until a photograph of it showed up on social media, said Florida attorney Mark O'Mara, who represents the family. A student at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Ajibade was arrested on domestic violence charges Jan. 1 after a fight with his girlfriend.
– Another high-profile case with allegations of police brutality has surfaced, this time out of Savannah, Ga. The county coroner has ruled the death of local student and 21-year-old Nigerian native Matthew Ajibade a homicide, reports CNN. Ajibade died in police custody on New Year's Day following his arrest on domestic violence charges. Authorities say he resisted arrest and then got combative during booking, with one female deputy suffering a broken nose and a concussion. Deputies put Ajibade in an isolation cell strapped to a chair, and he was later found unresponsive, reports the AP. The coroner's report lists blunt force trauma as the cause of death, and nine deputies have been fired. "There were abrasions around the head and a little bit of blood inside the skull case," says Chatham County Coroner Bill Wessinger. Both stories point out that in this context, homicide means only that another person was involved in the death, and that it wasn't necessarily a crime. Yesterday, Sheriff Al St. Lawrence avoided the specifics of the case but defended the use of force when necessary, reports GPB, saying, "I'm not running a summer camp here; I'm running a prison. And I intend to run it as it should be run." The local district attorney hasn't decided yet whether to file criminal charges. Attorney Mark O'Mara, who is representing Ajibade's family, says a girlfriend told arresting officers that Ajibade had mental health problems and gave them his medication.