The Grand jury of the district of Ashe County rejects the indictment in the death of the person in the customer

Jefferson, NC (WBTV) – A Grand Jury from Ashe County rejected it on Friday, against MPs who were involved in a fatal arrest of a man in September 2024.

The District Prosecutor of Watuga, Seth Banks, who was commissioned to check the case outside his public prosecutor's district, announced the Grand Jury decision in a press release on Friday, May 2.

The MPs of the Sheriff office of the Ashe County stopped Stuart Chad Mast on September 13, 2024 for an past day.

Body Camera Video was published at the investigative reporter of the WBTV chief Nick Ochsner in the early week. The video shows the MPs who quickly get to the ground after stopping it.

At some point a deputy mast tells that he will “suffocate” him.

After the MPs got hands in cuffs, find that his face is purple and that he no longer reacts. You then start with life -saving measures and demand doctors.

Mast finally died.

An autopsy ruled Mast's death as a murder and found that the cause of death was “compression start of the torso and neck”.

The medical examiner found that methamphetamine poisoning and heart disease also contributed to the death of mast.

According to the autopsy report, Mast was run over by MPs while driving his motorcycle. When they ordered him to get out of his bike, the autopsy said, he hesitated and the MPs pulled him off and activated a cable attached to the bike that had inflated its vest.

“Review of the available Body cam video In this incident, one or more officials were briefly or near his back with the arm of an officer around the region of the upper breast/neck,” said the autopsy.

The autopsy said Mast was no longer reacting than he was tied up with handcuffs.

Masts autopsy report was published in February. It is the only public accounting of the moments that have led to his previous death.

In February, Mast's family announced that her lawyer asked the family to see the Body Camera video of his arrest, but had not yet seen it himself. State law for the publication of police videos makes such recordings secret, entitles you to see the video within a few days after the request.

On March 17, Ochsner from WBTV submitted a petition for the public publication of the video from Mast.

—> Read more: New prosecutor who was commissioned to review Ashe County in-Custody-Tod

See WBTV News on Monday, May 5th, at 11 p.m. to see the video and hear about Mast's brother, who speaks to the deadly arrest.

Copyright 2025 WBTV. All rights reserved.