SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah, Aug. 24, 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — A Salt Lake County Jail inmate has been charged with murder after the beating death of another prisoner.
Kitiona Kitiona Lolani, Jr., 23, is now charged with aggravated murder, a first-degree felony in the Aug. 4 death of Daniel Lamont Davis, 38.
The attack was caught on the detention center’s surveillance video.
“It appears that Lolani and Mr. Davis exchanged words, and them Mr. Davis picks up his diet tray and walks around the table to where Lolani is standing,” an account in the probable cause statement says.
“Lolani suddenly punches Mr. Davis in the face. Mr. Davis then falls to the ground near the stairs. The video shows Lolani repeatedly punching Mr. Davis in the head area.
“It appears Mr. Davis tries to defend himself by moving away, and puts his arm up to protect himself. Lolani uses his right hand to hold onto Mr. Davis while punching him with his left hand. Mr Davis remains on the ground the entire time of the attack, and does not fight back.”
Corrections officer Michael Lopez heard the commotion and saw Lolani standing above someone, punching him, the statement says.
“Officer Lopez issued commands for Lolani to stop fighting, and deployed his entire bottle of OC spray. The OC spray had no effect, and Lolani did not respond to Officer Lopez’s commands.
“Officer Lopez reported that Mr. Davis was on the ground and no longer moving. When Corrections Officer Lopez asked Lolani what he was doing, he replied, ‘He messed with the wrong person.'”
Davis was transported to an area hospital, and was pronounced dead just after 7:30 p.m. the same day.
An autopsy performed on Davis made the preliminary determination that his cause of death was blunt force injury to the head, and his manner of death was homicide.
