Woman attacked by man who died while in jail custody says ‘He didn’t deserve to die’
As the investigation into the death of a man in custody of the Montgomery County Jail continues, a woman is sharing what happened just before the arrest.
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As reported on News Center 7 11:00, April Dade said 25-year-old Christian Black attacked her and stole her car days before his death.
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She said Black absolutely did not deserve to die.
Last Thursday, Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck put 10 jail employees on paid leave.
The next day, the Montgomery County Coroner ruled Black’s death a homicide and said he died of positional asphyxia.
Dabe said Dayton police interviewed her as part of their homicide investigation.
Now, she wants to share her story.
“There’s going to be people who see this story tonight and say, look, this all happened to you six weeks ago, why are you now coming forward at this point?” News Center 7’s John Bedell asked.
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“Because I was fearful at first, and I didn’t know what to do. I was very conflicted whether or not to come out,” Dabe said.
Dabe is talking about what happened to her on March 23 in the middle of an overnight shift at a Beavercreek nursing home.
“Hello everybody, how are you?” Dabe said.
Dabe was going live on social media, talking with her friends, like she always does during breaks.
“Just to decompress from everything that’s going on at work,” she said.
The end of the video recording she gave News Center 7 shows what happened next.
“So this right here, I notice him and I’m very uncomfortable when I notice him. I’m trying to look around to see if he’s coming around the car,” Dabe said.
Dabe said she fell out of her car after a man punched her in the face.
An Englewood police report identifies Dabe’s attacker as Christian Black.
“And then I just ran inside as fast as I could, didn’t look back,” she said.
The recording shows Black adjusting Dade’s phone before he takes off in her car.
Englewood police body camera video shows officers arresting Black later that night.
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“We’ll get him secured,” one officer said on the body camera video.
Black was booked into the Montgomery County Jail and days later, died at the hospital.
Dade said Black did not deserve what happened to him.
“Absolutely not. No. No,” she said.
She feels what happened to her could provide important context for the investigation into his death.
“Nobody put out there the real story of what happened to me. And I believe that that’s important for it to be out there. To know what frame of mind maybe he was in that night, what, how he acted that night. Which lines up with how he acted in the jail. Very angry,” Dade said.
As of now, the Dayton Police Department is handling the investigation.
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They will have the Prosecutor’s Office review it, which is procedural.
However, there’s a possibility that this could go to another county prosecutor to avoid any conflict of interest.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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