Shaheen Mackey Wiki – Biography
Shaheen Mackey is the inmate who died following an altercation with guards in Luzerne County Prison in Wilkes-Barre, Pennslyvania in June 2018. Following the altercation, Mackey was taken to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. His death occurred on June 8, two days after he was taken into custody. Mackey’s cause of death was listed as being of “natural causes.”
Mackey was imprisoned on June 6 after he was accused of violating a protection order. Two women had previously accused Mackey of stalking and of making threats of violence. He was a resident of Berwick, Pennsylvania.
Shaheen Mackey Age
Shaheen Mackey was 41 years old.
Family
Speaking about the video, Mackey’s daughter, Tatiyanee Mackey, told WNEP, “It’s not fair. It shouldn’t have to come to this, us putting out a video for people to see the truth, This is a real pain; this is not a joke. This is real life.”
Mackey’s sister, Rasheda Hammonds, told WNEP in 2018, “It’s frustrating not knowing how he died.” Other family members were quoted as saying that they wanted to know the exact circumstances of what happened even if it revealed that Mackey began the altercation. Hammonds had been quoted by WNEP in June 2018 as saying that her brother had “bruises all along the bank of his arms, his thighs. It doesn’t explain just a scuffle.”
The family’s lawyer, Barry Diller, said that there was a video showing Mackey’s last moments. Diller added, “When law enforcement has done nothing wrong, they are quick to show you what they have.” The WNEP story quoted Tatiyanee Mackey as saying, “He’s the most amazing dad ever.”
The Times-Leader in Wilkes-Barre reported in December 2019 that Mackey’s family had filed suit against Luzerne County and employees of the prison over his death. The suit alleged that officials did not provide Mackey with proper care in not acknowledging that he was having an epileptic seizure. Mackey’s family accuses prison officers of using stun guns on him more than 20 times while he was suffering from convulsions.
One section of the lawsuit read, “Instead of treating the situation as the medical emergency that it was, the correctional officers treated Mr. Mackey’s convulsions with more physical force.” In addition to the county and employees of the prison, Wellpath, a healthcare provider for prisons, was named in the lawsuit.
In June 2020, Luzerne City Council voted to approve a $3 million settlement to Mackey’s family. Another of Mackey’s family’s attorneys, Theron Solomon, was quoted as saying at the time of the ruling, “We are looking for reform and we’re looking for real change. including, I think they need to take a real hard look at their personnel.”
The Citizen’s Voice reported in July 2020 that just before the awarding of $3 million to Mackey’s family, two of the corrections officers who were named in the lawsuit left their jobs. They were named in the article as Sgt. Richard Stofko and Corrections Officer Kimberly Karavitch. Stofko resigned and Karavitich retired. While another defendant, David McDermott, resigned his position in August 2019. The jail’s captain, Francis Hacken was appointed county coroner in October 2019, according to the Citizen’s Voice.
Cause of Death
Shaheen Mackey is the 41-year-old inmate who died following an altercation with guards in Luzerne County Prison in Wilkes-Barre, Pennslyvania in June 2018. Following the altercation, Mackey was taken to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. His death occurred on June 8, two days after he was taken into custody. Mackey’s cause of death was listed as being of “natural causes.”
Mackey was imprisoned on June 6 after he was accused of violating a protection order. Two women had previously accused Mackey of stalking and of making threats of violence. He was a resident of Berwick, Pennsylvania.
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In the wake of the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the mass protests that followed, Mackey’s family are looking for an investigation into his death to be reopened, multiple sources in the Wilkes-Barre area reported in August 2020. The Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said in an August 5 statement that her office stands by its initial findings of no wrongdoing in the case.
Initial reports said that Mackey died after a “scuffle” with officers at the prison. WNEP reported in July 2018 that a press release from the prison at the time said that Mackey collapsed following the scuffle and died.
In July 2020, a graphic video emerged on Facebook that was posted by Niem Johnson, the husband of the executor of Mackey’s estate. Johnson wrote in the caption, “While his hands were cuffed behind his back in the chair with a spit mask on his face and his feet shackled, the correctional officers shocked him with tasers and not just held the spit mask on his face but choked him with it.”
WARNING: DISTURBING. Shaheen Mackey had a seizure at Luzerne Co. Correctional Facility. Staff covered his face with a spit mask, cuffed his hands behind his back, shackled his feet, and STILL tased him. By the time they realize he was dead, it was already too late… Sickening!! pic.twitter.com/Hgw2tmsjJC
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) August 6, 2020
Speaking about the video, Mackey’s daughter, Tatiyanee Mackey, told WNEP, “It’s not fair. It shouldn’t have to come to this, us putting out a video for people to see the truth, This is a real pain; this is not a joke. This is real life.”
In September 2018, The Times-Leader reported that the Luzerne County Correctional Facility was cleared of any wrongdoing in Mackey’s death. Following the decision, another of Mackey’s family’s attorneys, Theron Solomon, spoke out about the ruling saying, via the Associated Press, “It’s Luzerne County finding Luzerne County, not at fault. There should have been an investigation by someone other than the district attorney.” The AP report said that the county district attorney’s office alleged that Mackey suffered from severe coronary artery disease and that his outburst led to heart failure.
Mackey’s autopsy was performed by forensic pathologist Dr. Gary Ross. Mackey’s friend Star Ward told The Times-Leader that when she saw him lying in a hospital bed, “We get there, his body is bruised — pelvic area, arms, legs, his body is filling up with blisters. The fluid was coming out of his eyes. To be honest, he had bruises everywhere. He was turning yellow from the fluid. He had internal bleeding in his stomach.”
The district attorney report said, via the AP, that Mackey was “drooling and ripping out his hair” when his cellmate called for guards around 6:45 p.m. on June 6. Later, Mackey began “flailing and spiting,” The report went on saying that the altercation between the officers and Mackey continued until he became unresponsive.
In a June 2018 video, Mackey talked about having “transient altered mental status.” Mackey said that he was prone to violent outbursts. The Wilkes-Barre Citizen’s Voice quoted Mackey as saying in the video, “I just got the diagnosis from my doctor. These (expletives) said I have homicidal outbursts. … Well, I have an excuse to murder (expletive) now. It’s on record. You act stupid and I’ll have a homicidal outburst. I’ll kill you (expletive).”
