California police kept death in custody a secret for seven years, inquiry reveals

Darryl Mefferd's death was labeled an accident', but a report questions a Vallejo police officer's role in the fatal incident

California law enforcement officials have worked for seven years to keep secret a death in police custody, labeling the case an accident" and refusing to disclose basic information to journalists and the family of the victim, an investigation published on Monday reveals.

Darryl Mefferd, 49, died on 8 December 2016 while he was detained by police in Vallejo, a city of 125,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The case was uncovered by Open Vallejo, a local non-profit news organization, which shared its records with the Guardian.