JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Three months after a Jacksonville man died after he was detained by two Jacksonville police officers, his family and friends are still looking for answers.
Loved ones and community activists gathered for a vigil Friday night at Friendship Fountain to remember Jalen Mays and rally for justice.
Mays, 26, was detained by two officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Investigators said officers S.R. Maddox and M.J. Reddish were called to a convenience store on Lane Avenue South about a disturbance.
According to officers, Mays resisted as they attempted to remove him from the store. While in handcuffs, the officers say they noticed Mays was having difficulty breathing, so he was taken to Orange Park Medical Center to be treated and then detained under the Baker Act.
The following day, police learned he died at the hospital. The two officers were placed on administrative leave while investigators reviewed the encounter with Mays.
Mays' family and friends are calling for a thorough investigation. Friends say Mays was having a mental problem when officers arrived.
"When someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, they should not be responded to by police. It needs to be responded to as a medical issue," one person at the vigil said.
News4Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson said there should be no rush to judgment until an autopsy report is released.
"We don't know if it happened between him and the officers otherwise. So the medical examiner's report is going to be vital in this case," Jefferson said.
According to the Sheriff's Office, both officers who were involved in the arrest are back on patrol.