ST. LOUIS – The family of a man who died in the St. Louis City Justice Center last month is suing the city, CJC employees, the jail’s medical provider and select employees.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department confirmed that the Justice Center notified police of an in-custody death around 11:35 p.m. on Saturday, July 19.

Police learned that a fight between two detainees in a shared cell began sometime after 8 p.m. Police allege that one of those detainees, identified as Samuel Hayes Jr., did not listen to jail staff after the confrontation and was placed in a restraint chair.

Hayes was later found unresponsive around 10 p.m. He was rushed to St. Louis University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Hayes was 31.

Anita Washington, Hayes’ mother, filed the suit on Aug. 13 on the family’s behalf.

Attorneys representing Washington said the family viewed footage from inside the City Justice Center days after Hayes’ death.

In the lawsuit, the family claims jail staff failed to follow policies related to the use of restraint chairs and says those failures led to Hayes’ untimely death. They claim Hayes was not resisting, was not in any shape to be put in the chair, was left unmonitored, and that his death could have been prevented.

The family is asking for a trial by jury.

Hayes had been in jail for more than a year after being charged with first-degree murder connected to a deadly April 2024 shooting in north St. Louis. He was scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 4.

You can read the lawsuit in its entirety below.