The family of Everett Palmer Jr. is demanding accountability from York County Prison more than a year after he died behind bars.

Palmer died on April 8, 2018, while he was in the Pennsylvania prison to answer for a warrant related to a DUI, reports Spectrum News. The prison claims he was injured after he "became agitated and began hitting his head against his cell door." A county coroner initially attributed Palmer’s demise to “complications following an excited state, associated with methamphetamine toxicity, during physical restraint." Sickle cell disease was named a contributing factor, according to FOX43.

#everettpalmer.#ItsOnUs . Please call: David Sunday @717-771-9600 or email: DWSunday@yorkcountypa.gov. We Demand Justice for his Family. We Demand to know where his brain, heart, throat is! We Demand Justice!!!???????????????????? pic.twitter.com/hzUW65Ao5y

— Delilah V Grant???? (@DelilahgrantV) June 6, 2019

His mother, Rose Palmer, doesn’t believe the story.

"My son was a perfectly healthy young man and my son is not going to bang his head on a cell," Rose says.

She doesn’t believe the 41-year-old should have been in prison at all because of his gentle nature.

"My son was not a troublemaker, not at all, he was a very gentle, kind man,” she continued. “So, it's nothing that he did in that prison that would warrant his death. He even looked maybe intimidating to some people, but he wasn't, he was the sweetest young man.”

The family is also alarmed because Everett’s corpse was bruised and missing its brain, heart and throat.

"When we reached out to find out what happened to his organs, they initially lied,” said Dwayne Palmer, his brother. “They directed us back to our funeral director and told us that we need to confer with them because they probably took the organs.”

The family was also confused about the “methamphetamine toxicity." They believe that if he had drugs in his system, he would have taken them in his cell.

Family attorney Marlon Kirto believes the county is being deceptive. The missing throat is especially troubling since it is not commonly removed during an autopsy.

"Makes no sense, unless you're trying to maybe avoid people knowing how he died; which was maybe by asphyxiation," Kirto said.

The family filed a notice of claim to maintain their right to sue. Everett’s sister April is sad their family is in the same place as many before them.

"You read about these stories every day, and you always think to yourself, ‘Wow, that's a shame. I'm sad for that family — that's too bad,’” she said. “ And now we are that family,”

York-County-Pennsylvania

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