JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Nearly four months after a 31-year-old man died while in the custody of the Duval County jail, his mother is calling for accountability and answers from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
Tracy Karpas said that the truth about what happened to her son, Charles Faggart, is not being told.
Faggart was hospitalized in April following an unspecified “incident” involving nine corrections officers, who have since been reassigned to different positions.
By the time Karpas arrived at his bedside, her son was already braindead.
“I got to spend the last three days of his life holding his hand, even though he didn’t know I was there—or maybe he did,” she said in an interview with News4JAX.
JSO initially reported that Faggart may have suffered a seizure, possibly linked to fentanyl. However, the medical examiner’s report told a different story.
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The autopsy revealed no fentanyl in Faggart’s system and no evidence of a seizure.
Instead, it documented multiple severe injuries, including fractures, internal bleeding, and a stun gun barb still embedded in his back. Investigators also failed to disclose initially that Faggart had been pepper-sprayed while in custody.
Those details, Karpas said, have profoundly affected her grandson.
“He has such a horrible, horrible opinion of the police right now,” she said. “It’s really sad that a 6-year-old child has to hate anybody in uniform because of what they did to his dad. That in itself disgusts me.”
Adding to her frustration, Karpas said she later discovered that the jail supervisor on duty at the time of her son’s death, Williams Cox, had a prior arrest and a disciplinary history with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
She believes Cox should never have been in a position of authority.
Karpas also said the stress and trauma have taken a toll on her own health.
“I just got out of the hospital. I had two stents put in,” she said. “They told me I had broken heart syndrome. I thought it was just a saying, but they said no—it’s very real. My heart was under so much stress. That’s what caused it.”
She also had a direct message for Sheriff T.K. Waters.
“Do your job. Tell the truth. That would be my only message. Tell the truth and do your job.”
JSO has declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation now being handled by the State Attorney’s Office and the FBI.
Karpas and her attorneys are pushing for sweeping policy changes at the jail. Their demands include:
- Adding audio to jail surveillance cameras
- Requiring body cameras for corrections officers
- Banning the use of pepper spray on inmates wearing spit masks
- Prohibiting handcuffing of incapacitated or brain-dead inmates
- Consider alternative punishments for low-level crimes, such as community service instead of jail time
- Revise hiring practices to screen for corrections officers
Karpas said she’s not seeking revenge—just the truth, and change.