Review examines death of man in police custody who said ‘I can’t breathe’

Soon, body camera videos show, Williams would go silent. And as he lay motionless on the ground, face-down with his hands cuffed behind his back, a group of Metropolitan Police Department officers stood around the 50-year-old man, laughing and making jokes.

“Incarceritis?” one officer quipped — a play on the word incarceration, suggesting the officers did not believe Williams when he said he couldn’t breathe.

Williams, an unarmed Black man stopped by Metro on Sept. 5, 2019, for riding his bicycle without safety lights, died a half hour later at a local hospital.

That footage, capturing the officers’ conduct and banter, which later resulted in department-wide policy changes, were kept secret from the public for more than a year — until Friday, when a fact-finding review was held in Williams’ death. The process, for which the Clark County Commission appoints a hearing master and ombudsman to represent the interests of the public, is meant to provide transparency in deadly police interactions.

“In hindsight, it’s pretty apparent that he probably couldn’t breathe, right?” attorney Josh Tomsheck, the appointed ombudsman, asked Metro Det. Scott Mendoza.

“If he’s saying he couldn’t, there’s no reason not to believe him,” replied Mendoza, who led the investigation into Williams’ death.

‘Callous treatment’

Reading from a prepared statement after the fact-finding review, Williams’ niece, Teena Acree, demanded accountability.

“The officers’ actions were deplorable,” Acree said, her voice shaking. “The callous treatment of my uncle was inhumane. The officers must be held accountable.”

In Clark County, a fact-finding review is scheduled only after the district attorney’s office already has made a “preliminary determination” that it will not pursue criminal charges in a fatal police shooting or in-custody death.

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Friday marked the 78th review held since the process was adopted in 2013. At the conclusion of a review, no formal determination about the case is made. Still, since its inception, not a single preliminary determination by the district attorney’s office has been reversed following a fact-finding review.

In June, as protests over police brutality and racism erupted across the nation and in Las Vegas, District Attorney Steve Wolfson told the Review-Journal that the fact-finding review “is not a perfect process because the involved officers that caused the death of one of our citizens cannot be forced to testify.” He also said the process “is probably ripe for review to determine if any more improvements could be made.”

Metro officers Benjamin Vazquez and Patrick Campbell first encountered Williams near Martin Luther King Boulevard and West Bonanza Road — located in a historically Black neighborhood near downtown Las Vegas. The officers tried to stop him for riding a bicycle without safety lights, but Williams took off on his bike through a gas station parking lot and down a small road before abandoning his wheels and jumping over a wall.

Minutes later, Campbell and Vazquez caught up to Williams in a nearby apartment complex, at which point, Williams complied with Campbell’s orders and got on the ground, according to the body camera videos.

With his knee pressing into Williams’ lower back, Campbell placed the man in handcuffs.

Then, over and over again, Williams complained, “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.”

“Yeah, because you’re (expletive) running,” Campbell is heard saying in the videos.

As Williams’ strained voice emerged from the speakers Friday morning, his family members shifted in their seats. Their expressions were hidden behind white cloth masks marked by a clear demand in bold, black letters: “JUSTICE FOR BYRON WILLIAMS.”

Still, their discomfort was apparent, as they looked away from the television screen displaying some of Williams’ final moments.

‘No excuse’

Eventually, seven more Metro officers would arrive at the scene to assist Campbell and Vazquez, and the officers finally pulled Williams off the ground. Then his body went limp.

The officers dragged the man’s body toward several parked patrol cars before setting Williams on the ground, again, in the prone position. Then, for unknown reasons, the officers turned off their body cameras as they waited for medical assistance.

According to medical examiner Jennifer Corneal, who performed Williams’ autopsy, it was this instance, when he was restrained in the prone position a second time, that contributed to his death.

Corneal, who has since left the Clark County coroner’s office for a job in Arizona, testified Friday that Williams died from a combination of causes, including a methamphetamine overdose and the “prone restraint” used by police that morning. His death was ruled a homicide.

More than a year later, it remains unclear whether Vazquez and Campbell, or any of the responding officers, were disciplined. In Nevada, police personnel records are confidential.

Bhavani Raveendran, one of the family’s attorneys, said Friday that the “fact-finding hearing is just the start of transparency, and more steps need to be taken.”

“The Las Vegas Police Department is accountable to not only the family of Mr. Williams but to the broader community, as well,” she said. “There is no excuse for turning off body cameras so a family cannot get the answers they need.”

Vazquez and Campbell were placed on paid leave at the time of Williams’ death, pending the department’s investigation into their use of force, but have since returned to duty.

Mendoza, the detective who led the investigation, testified Friday that he had determined the officers did not use force on Williams.

The man’s family members scoffed.

Following Friday’s review, Metro made the body camera videos and the department’s final investigative report public on its website.

Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.

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Metro makes policy changes

On Friday, immediately after the fact-finding review, Las Vegas police Capt. James LaRochelle announced several changes to the department as a direct result of Williams’ death:

— A training course on ethics and professionalism, both while officers are on and off duty, was created. The course emphasizes the “value of every human life before, during and after use of force.”

— Metro’s use of force policy was updated to prohibit officers from restraining individuals already in custody “in a manner that compromises their ability to breathe.” In addition, handcuffed individuals in the prone position must be placed in a recovery position, such as on their side, “to ensure their airway is not restricted.”

— The department’s body-worn camera policy now clearly defines that cameras should be turned off “only if officers have cleared the scene and are no longer assigned to the event,” and only when “they have discontinued contact (and are no longer in proximity to) the subjects.”

— Metro’s foot pursuit policy now requires officers to request medical attention if an individual is in a prolonged physical encounter with officers, complains of an injury, is injured or displays difficulty in breathing.