No charges for guards involved in hospital patient's death


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GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — A prosecutor says no charges will be filed against guards involved in a scuffle that resulted in the death of a man at a South Carolina hospital.

Solicitor David Wagner announced his findings Friday after reviewing materials including security footage taken March 6 at Greenville Memorial Hospital.

State police said 48-year-old Donald Keith Smith was admitted to the hospital for a gunshot wound to the arm. Wagner says video shows Smith punching a hospital guard in the face and fighting with other guards and staff.

Wagner says after restraining Smith, the guards realized he wasn't breathing.

Coroner Parks Evans said an autopsy showed Smith died from traumatic asphyxiation and also had heart disease. Evans says Smith couldn't breathe because of the position in which he was held after the scuffle.

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