“Is he alive?” one other officer could be heard asking within the body-camera footage.
Police supplied medical support to Brandon, in response to the Salt Lake Metropolis Police Division, however lower than an hour later, the 35-year-old was pronounced useless.
The Salt Lake Metropolis Police Division on Friday launched body-camera footage of the deadly incident, saying that its inside affairs division and an outdoor company, the West Jordan Police Division, are investigating. The entire officers concerned within the incident have been positioned on paid depart, a division spokesperson instructed The Washington Put up, including that the encounter was “a really dynamic, violent and harmful scenario for our cops.”
“The suspect is seen on body-worn digital camera refusing to adjust to a number of instructions, instantly combating with our officers, grabbing two of their weapons and resisting whereas being arrested,” the spokesperson added.
Brandon seems to have been unarmed. The movies launched by the division don’t present Brandon holding a weapon. The division talked about no weapon being recovered on the scene. Nevertheless, officers did be aware that early within the encounter, Brandon appeared to seize at an officer’s belt. Footage reveals him putting his hand close to the officer’s gun earlier than one other took him to the bottom.
A 911 caller famous that Brandon gave the impression to be a hazard to himself and probably others. The caller requested that “psychological well being sources” reply.
Salt Lake Metropolis Police Chief Mike Brown mentioned in an announcement that the division will use the findings of the investigations to judge insurance policies, coaching and procedures.
Police departments throughout the nation are grappling with find out how to confront folks experiencing doable psychological well being crises. Whereas The Washington Put up doesn’t monitor the variety of non-shooting deaths by police nationwide, 21 p.c of the greater than 7,680 deadly police shootings since 2015 concerned an individual with psychological sickness, in response to Post tracking.
Lately, departments have applied de-escalation insurance policies and coaching to cut back situations during which police resort to utilizing bodily or lethal drive. Such a coverage was mandated in August 2020 by Salt Lake Metropolis Mayor Erin Mendenhall (D). It requires officers to make use of de-escalation methods like establishing rapport with an individual and interesting in methods that end in “voluntary compliance.”
About two years after these reforms, police have been known as to reply to the Fisher Brewing Firm, the place a person carrying solely underwear tried to steal beer earlier than working into the road, the caller mentioned. They added that the person was “undoubtedly a hazard to himself” and that he “kind of” attacked somebody on the brewery’s entrance.
Minutes later, a police officer discovered a person later recognized as Brandon working throughout the road, the division mentioned. The officer mentioned “cease,” approached Brandon and instantly tried to seize him, the officer’s body-camera footage reveals.
Brandon then appeared to seize on the officer’s belt and gun, in response to body-camera footage from one other officer who arrived on the scene seconds later. That officer approached and pushed Brandon to the bottom. Each officers tried to subdue the person.
“I’m going to Tase you,” one of many officers says, in response to the footage. “You wish to get Tased?”
After a 3rd officer arrived and joined the trouble to restrain Brandon, the person appeared to place his hand on an officer’s holstered gun, prompting one to announce, “He’s received a hand in your gun.” Extra officers arrived because the wrestle continued, and the officers ultimately compelled Brandon’s arms behind his again and handcuffed him.
About 4 minutes into the encounter, 4 officers have been holding Brandon facedown on the bottom as he moaned and breathed closely, in response to the footage. Shut to 5 minutes into the encounter, an officer mentioned, “We will sit you up for those who cease.”
Brandon didn’t reply and continued to breathe deeply. After moaning a number of extra instances, he appeared to lose consciousness. The body-camera movies finish as police start to roll him onto his again.
The division mentioned in an announcement that officers supplied support to Brandon, together with giving him a number of doses of Narcan, a medication for reversing the results of opioid overdoses. Brandon was transported to the hospital and pronounced useless lower than an hour after the encounter started, in response to the division.
It’s unclear if Brandon had medicine in his system. The town’s health worker has not publicly shared the outcomes of his post-mortem, and the workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from The Put up early Monday.
Hours earlier than the violent encounter in Salt Lake Metropolis, police in neighboring South Salt Lake discovered Brandon intoxicated at a park and dropped him off at a detox facility about three blocks from the brewery the place the 911 name was made, KUTV reported.
Native activists say nothing Brandon did justified his dying.
“Stealing a beer doesn’t equate to the dying penalty,” Lex Scott, the founding father of Black Lives Matter-Utah, told the Associated Press. “I don’t care if this man robbed 10 banks in in the future. He didn’t need to die. He deserved to make it to court docket.”
