Oklahoma Inmate Who Said He Was ‘Tortured’ By Forced Listening to 'Baby Shark’ Song Found Dead
An inmate housed at the Oklahoma County jail who was a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the county accusing employees of torturing him and other inmates with a loop of “Baby Shark” reportedly died on Sunday at the facility.
According to The Oklahoman, 48-year-old John Basco’s death, which is the 14th this year at the facility, came after he was found unresponsive in his cell shortly after 3:50 a.m. A media release from jail officials revealed that officers attempted life-saving measures until emergency responders arrived and continued attempts to resuscitate Basco. He died less than 20 minutes later.
The state’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will make a final determination over Basco’s cause of death. Jail officials say the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation will also assist with the investigation. Mark Opgrande, director of communications for the facility, told The Oklahoman that “a drug overdose” is “one of the possibilities being investigated.”
Basco had been booked into the jail Thursday on a drug trafficking complaint.
Basco and three other jail inmates had sued the county last year after they accused two former detention officers – Gregory Cornell Butler Jr., and Christian Charles Miles, of forcing them to repeatedly listen to the popular children’s song “Baby Shark” for extended periods of time while standing with their hands cuffed behind them to a wall in November and December 2019.
Former Lieutenant Christopher Raymond Hendershott was also sued for doing nothing to stop the alleged mistreatment after learning about it. The three jail employees were subsequently fired after an investigation confirmed the inmates were subjected to the abuse in an attorney visitation room.
