Results of an autopsy conducted at a GBI crime lab will hopefully conclusively determine what caused the death Tuesday of a City of Tifton inmate housed at the Tift County Jail who became ill while on a work detail March 17. James Anthony “Tony” Harrell, 39, of Tifton, died Tuesday at the Medical Center of Georgia in Macon.

According to members of Harrell’s family, Harrell suffered a broken jaw, internal bruising, head trauma and several other broken bones and was admitted to Tift Regional Medical Center and then transported to the Medical Center of Georgia in Macon the morning of the incident. Harrell’s uncle, Tommy Walker, told the Tifton Gazette Tuesday afternoon that Harrell’s brain was swelling and his body temperature had spiked to 110 degrees and he wasn’t expected to live much longer.

Walker said members of Harrell’s family had questions about how the injuries that caused Harrell’s death had occurred. Rumors were circulating that Harrell was involved in a fight at the jail the night of March 16 or morning of March 17 prior to his signing out for the work detail on a City of Tifton Sanitation truck.

According to Lt. Porter Jackson, a City of Tifton Police detective, the investigation into the incident continues. He said a member of Harrell’s family had contacted him and told him that Harrell was severely beaten at the jail and then sent on the work detail. Jackson said he and other TPD detectives were working to determine whether or not that occurred.

“From information on the injuries we were made aware of from the hospital in Macon, we don’t believe that could have happened (at the jail) and he been able to walk out of the jail period without someone noticing,” Jackson said.

During an interview Wednesday in City of Tifton Manager Mike Vollmer’s office, Jackson said he had contacted Mike Lewis of the GBI and explained to him the findings so far in the case. Jackson said Lewis told him, that with the information gained so far, the case didn’t look criminal.

“We would have preferred they be involved,” said Tifton Mayor Jamie Cater during the interview.

Jackson said the GBI crime lab has completed Harrell’s autopsy, but the results aren’t expected for several weeks.

According to the initial incident report by Tifton Police Officer Christopher Spires responded to a 911 call at 7:53 a.m. March 17 that a city inmate had fainted and had blood coming form his ear. Spires wrote in his report that when he arrived at the intersection of Hartley Avenue and Hickory Drive he saw Harrell lying on the shoulder of the street. When he got out of his patrol car, he noticed a puddle of blood on the cement between Old Omega Road and Hickory Drive. He noted that it seemed Harrell was having a seizure.

Spires also wrote that Harrell didn’t respond when his name was called; that when he checked Harrell’s pupils with a light he found them fixed and they didn’t move; that Harrell’s pulse was “very fast-paced”; that blood was seeping from Harrell’s left ear and a clear liquid was in his right ear; that there were no other signs of injuries; and that Harrell was breathing.

Spires said EMS arrived and took over Harrell’s treatment and he then spoke with Frank Clark, who said was on the back of the truck where Harrell had been working. Spires said Clark told him that Harrell had picked up a couple of bags of trash from the city’s trash can at 410 Hickory Drive and thrown them in the truck. Clark told Spires he thought Harrell had gotten on the truck after that, but he wasn’t sure. Clark said that all he knew was that the truck traveled toward Gregg Isaac’s and dumped a can and that is where he observed Harrell walking west across Hartley and then fall to the ground.

Charles Gray was driving the “City Sanitation Ear Loader” at the time, according to Spires’ report. Spires said Gray told him “that Harrell had been doing a good job on the truck and had picked up a couple of bags of trash out of the can at 410 Hickory Drive and threw them into the truck.” Gray said that he thought Harrell had then gotten onto the side of the truck, but he doesn’t know what happened to him. He said he went down toward Greg Isaac’s where he turned the truck around to get a can and then headed east on Old Omega Road. It was at that time Gray said he saw Harrell collapse and the workers went to check on him.

In a Wednesday afternoon interview with Tift County Sheriff Gary Vowell and Jail Administrator Capt. Jerry Lipsey, it was learned that Harrell was booked into the jail on March 11 and charged with simple assault (family violence) by the Tifton Police Department. Lipsey said Harrell was assigned to B Pod, which, according to Lipsey, is an open dormitory where misdemeanor-charged, non-violent offenders are housed. The pod has a common day area as well as a common cell area, Lipsey said. Lipsey said the routine medical screening performed on inmates at booking was performed on Harrell and there are no records to indicate that a fight that ultimately involved Harrell had occurred during the time he was incarcerated prior to his becoming ill on the work detail.

“We have no medical complaints and nothing on Harrell except for routine tuberculosis screenings and such,” Lipsey said.

Lipsey said the City of Tifton approves inmates to work on details and the municipal judge tells the inmate in court whether or not he/she can work on a detail. Those city inmates who are approved to work outside the jail are required to sign out before exiting the jail every morning. Vowell said that city and county inmates work on separate work details and that county inmates’ details usually included cleaning and cutting grass around the Law Enforcement Center and working some at the court house or at the animal shelter.