ST. LOUIS 鈥 Samuel Hayes Jr. was in the downtown jail, strapped in a restraint chair, and writhing in pain for nearly 30 minutes, his family and lawyers said on Thursday.
Nobody came to help, they said.
Hayes鈥 family and attorneys this week watched video surveillance of his final moments. Even after he went completely still, it took 90 minutes for someone to come check on him, they told the Post-Dispatch on Thursday.
鈥淚鈥檓 so mad that nobody helped him,鈥 said Angel Upchurch, the mother of two children with Hayes. 鈥淲hy didn鈥檛 they help him? I still do not understand that.鈥
Hayes鈥 death has reignited calls for change at the City Justice Center on Tucker Boulevard that has been buffeted in recent years by at least 20 deaths, rioting, hostage-taking and complaints about dismal health care.
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City leaders, including Mayor Cara Spencer, have pledged to make improvements. Her predecessor hired interim commissioner Doug Burris to make recommendations and fixes.
鈥淲e are committed to making the jail a place that we can all feel confident that anybody 鈥 incarcerated or otherwise 鈥 can feel safe,鈥 Spencer said at a press conference Thursday.
But Brendan Roediger, a local civil rights attorney who is representing Hayes鈥 family, said he wanted more answers.
鈥淚鈥檝e watched videos of violent jail and prison deaths for my entire career,鈥 he said. 鈥淭he indifference to Mr. Hayes is worse than all of it. Doug Burris can make all of the policy changes he wants, but it won鈥檛 put a dent in this cruelty.鈥
A spokeswoman for the city鈥檚 corrections department referred questions to police. Police spokesman Mitch McCoy said the department is still investigating and could not comment further.
Upchurch, the mother of Hayes鈥 children, met Hayes when she was in fourth grade.
They were fast friends, she said. He always volunteered to walk her home.
鈥淗e was a protector,鈥 she said.
As they got older, the two began dating. Their boys are now 5 and 9.
The relationship didn鈥檛 last, but Hayes and Upchurch, 30, remained close friends.
Last May, Hayes, 31, was arrested on charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Police said he pulled up next to another car at a stoplight and opened fire. Bryan Boyle, 35, was hit in the torso and died in the hospital.
Lawyers for Hayes鈥 family declined to comment on the specifics of his criminal case.
But Upchurch said she had spoken with him last Wednesday and he was in good spirits. His trial was set to start in August, and he was optimistic.
鈥淕od got me,鈥 he told her.
At some point after that, however, Hayes was moved to an area of the jail colloquially called 鈥渢he hole,鈥 usually used for administrative segregation or solitary confinement, Upchurch said.
On Saturday evening around 8 p.m., guards were called there, where officials said Hayes was fighting with another detainee.
Family demanded on Monday to see video of Hayes鈥 death. On Tuesday, police showed footage to Upchurch, Hayes鈥 parents, and two of the family鈥檚 lawyers, Roediger and Jack Waldron, at police headquarters. They were not allowed to take a copy with them or take notes, they said.
On Thursday, Upchurch and the lawyers sat down with the Post-Dispatch to describe what they saw:
The video appeared to start with Hayes in a cell, they said. A group of guards gathered around it. At some point, Hayes鈥 hands appeared in an opening in the cell door through which jailers handcuff people.
When the guards opened the door, Hayes fell out. As he lay on the ground, the guards appeared to be telling him to get up.
Eventually, they brought him to his feet. He was walking gingerly 鈥 鈥渨addling,鈥 Upchurch said.
As they walked him past a table, he fell onto it. The guards once again picked him up, and they headed to a hallway outside the cell.
Upchurch said he didn鈥檛 appear to be combative. 鈥淗e a wasn鈥檛 aggressive,鈥 she said. 鈥淗e wasn鈥檛 angry.鈥
At the end of the hallway, the guards reached a restraint chair and strapped Hayes in. The process was hard to see because the camera was right above the chair, Upchurch and the lawyers said. They could only see Hayes鈥 eyes and the top of his head.
A woman in scrubs 鈥 Upchurch suspects she was a nurse 鈥 eventually appeared and felt Hayes鈥 head. The nurse left for a moment and came back with another person. One moved her finger in front of his eyes to see if he could follow her hand.
It was clear from Hayes鈥 face that he was in pain, Upchurch said. After the nurses left, it got worse.
He writhed and strained, so much that his chair inched backward, making the top of his torso and shoulders visible to the camera.
Nearly 30 minutes later, he stopped moving. His eyes were closed. And he sat that way for about an hour and a half, Upchurch and the lawyers said.
People walked by Hayes in the back of the video while he sat there. Eventually, a man came and stood over him.
The man left, and he and others returned a few minutes later and started rubbing on Hayes鈥 chest, Upchurch said.
They checked his pulse on his neck, put a hand under his nose, and then started CPR while he was still in the chair.
Eventually, Upchurch said, they unstrapped Hayes and laid him on the floor.
Upchurch learned he was dead roughly five hours later. She told her sons what happened, but she鈥檚 not sure they understood.
Since she watched the video, Upchurch said she can鈥檛 sleep. All she sees when she closes her eyes is his face on the screen, screaming in pain.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to watch it, but I knew I had to go,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 know he would鈥檝e wanted me to know what happened to him.鈥
Upchurch said she recognizes that people in the public may cast inmates off because they鈥檙e accused of doing something wrong.
鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 mean you get to dehumanize them,鈥 she said.
Post-Dispatch photographers capture tens of thousands of images every year. See some of their best work that was either taken in June 2025 in this video. Edited by Jenna Jones.
