By James Halpin
The Citizens’ Voice
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — The fight between a correctional officer and an inmate that led to them plummeting down an elevator shaft to their deaths earlier this week began as a dispute over the inmate’s access to the elevator, prosecutors said Friday.
Correctional Officer Kristopher Moules, 25, of Larksville, and inmate Timothy Darnell Gilliam Jr., 27, of Wilkes-Barre, died after falling nearly 60 feet when they burst through the elevator door during a scuffle Monday evening. Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie
Salavantis said Friday Gilliam pulled Moules into the elevator door following an argument over his access to the elevator.
“He was mad that after he was playing basketball, he was not allowed to take the elevator,” Salavantis said, adding that only certain inmates who have passes are able to use the elevator. “He was angry that he had to take the stairs.”
The Luzerne County Coroner’s Office has ruled Gilliam’s death an accident and Moules’ death a homicide, prosecutors announced Friday. While Gilliam didn’t intend to kill Moules, his negligent actions set off a chain of events that led to the officer’s death, Salavantis said.
“It’s absolutely terrible,” she said.
According to a statement released by the district attorney’s office, the dispute between the inmate and officer began about 5:30 p.m. Monday as Moules, a Larksville native, was passing out dinner trays at a cell block door.
After Moules delivered the last tray, Gilliam approached the door, which had not yet been closed and locked, and began a “heated discussion” with Moules and another officer who was in a locked control room above the cell block floor, prosecutors said.
Moules ordered Gilliam to exit the block, apparently to avoid confronting the inmate in a room occupied by 37 other inmates, according to prosecutors.
In the hallway, Gilliam got into the argument with Moules, prompting the control room officer, who was not identified, to order the inmate to be handcuffed, prosecutors said.
Moules began to handcuff Gilliam, but the inmate resisted, prompting the control room guard to sound an “all available guards” alarm as he exited the control room to assist, prosecutors said.
As the officer began to assist, Gilliam pulled Moules backward toward the elevator, an Otis model that has a single door sliding to the side. The men hit the door, which immediately gave way and swung out as if hinged on top — contrary to the way it was supposed to operate, according to prosecutors.
“The two disappeared into the shaft with Gilliam still pulling C.O. Moules, and the door swung immediately closed behind them,” prosecutors said in the statement. “The control room C.O. who was attempting to assist braced himself on the elevator doorway before nearly falling into the shaft himself.”
The men fell 59 feet and 1 inch, impacting the top of the elevator car, which was stationary on the ground floor, prosecutors said.
Medics summoned to the scene arrived within four minutes and brought both men to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
Both men died of multiple traumatic injuries, with Gilliam’s death ruled accidental and Moules’ death ruled a homicide.
“Although inmate Gilliam did not intend to cause his own death, his actions set in motion a chain of events which lead to the death of C.O. Kristopher Moules,” prosecutors said in a statement. “As a result, the manner of death of C.O. Moules is homicide.”
Because of Gilliam’s death, the case is now closed, prosecutors said.
County Manager David Pedri said Friday that in the aftermath of the incident, he has initiated monthly meetings between the administration and correctional officers’ union to address any safety concerns jail officials have. During the first meeting Thursday, officials discussed ways to run the jail more efficiently and safely, he said.
“The goal is to keep a clean line of communication between the county administration and the correctional officers,” Pedri said.
An outside team of consultants had evaluated the elevators and repairs to the elevator where the deaths took place were scheduled to begin Friday evening, he said. It wasn’t known how long that process would take.
The jail has remained on lock down since the men died, he said.
Moules, who began working for the jail in September, was a 2009 Wyoming Valley West graduate and a two-time all-star in soccer and baseball who went on to play baseball at Lackawanna College and Youngstown State.
Gilliam, a registered sex offender, was arrested in February on a felony charge of failing to register his address with state police. He was previously sentenced to six to 18 months in jail after pleading guilty to a count of statutory sexual assault for having sex with a sleeping 14-year-old girl.
Copyright 2016 The Citizens’ Voice