In an introduction to the edited Former Fresno police chief Andrew Hall on Friday said 41-year-old Joseph Perez was contacted in May 2017 by Fresno police officers after they saw him acting irregularly and believed he needed help. Perez was not cooperating and led officers to restrain him with his face down on the sidewalk for his own safety while they waited for paramedics to wait, Hall said.
Paramedics eventually arrived on the scene and decided to confine Perez, who was lying face down, to a backboard. A Fresno officer was asked to sit on the back plank for about a minute while paramedics pinned Perez to the back plank.
Perez lost consciousness, Hall said. Paramedics tried to save his life in the ambulance, but they were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Perez’s family has filed a lawsuit against law enforcement, paramedics and others. The accused denied the allegations in court documents. A lawyer for the family told CNN that the death was a murder in the province.
“Despite the accused’s efforts to keep this footage confidential, truth and transparency prevailed,” Neil Gehlawat, a lawyer for Perez’s family, said in a statement. “The Perez family is deeply concerned about the circumstances that led to Joseph’s death, especially in light of the police violence epidemic plaguing the country.”
“No matter who the patient may be, our goal is to always provide excellent care and treat everyone with the same dignity and respect,” the statement said. “Our job is simply to help people and save lives. It was just as much for Joseph Perez as it was for anyone else.”
“I can not breathe”
On May 10, 2017, the sheriff of Fresno County received a 911 call from a resident who said a man was steadfastly hitting a busy street. In the audio of the call, which was recorded in Friday’s video, a man is heard describing Perez as ‘running sideways’ and ‘just really, acting weird’.
Three Fresno police officers, unaware of the 911 call, accidentally came across Perez and stopped because they needed help. According to Hall, officers thought the man “may have had drugs, alcohol or suffered from some kind of mental distress.”
Perez has had a history of contacting law enforcement, Hall said. The previous day, he was discharged from a hospital following a mental health evaluation by other Fresno police officers, although it was not known to officers during the fatal incident, Hall said.
Perez did not cooperate after officers approached him and he was handcuffed for his own safety, Hall said. Delegates from the sheriff’s department of Fresno County arrived soon and officials from both agencies requested an ambulance, according to Hall.
Sheriff’s deputies and police officers tried to calm Perez down, but he “was still cooperative and physically combative,” Hall said. Authorities laid him face down on the sidewalk while waiting for emergency medical personnel, but Perez “pressed his forehead into the sidewalk,” he said.
In the survey of the body comb released on Friday, it is heard that the authorities repeatedly ask Perez to calm down. Perez is heard shouting and cursing.
“Please help me,” is heard by Perez.
U.S. paramedics arrive at the scene, and a blue plastic plaque is seen on Perez’s back. An officer is instructed by a paramedic to sit on it while the emergency personnel have finished securing him.
While officers struggle to keep him in check, Perez is heard shouting, “oh god” and “I can’t breathe.”
“Sit on that plate,” a paramedic told an officer.
According to Hall, the officer sat on the back plank on Perez’s butt for one minute and 15 seconds before the paramedic told the officer to get up. Paramedics then took Perez away in the ambulance, but he was pronounced dead at Community Regional Medical Center.
4 agencies investigated the incident
The Fresno County coroner’s office ruled that Perez’s death was a homicide caused by ‘compression asphyxia’, Gehlawat said. In his statement, he said “compression asphyxia during self-control is all too common and we hope to expose this pervasive tactic used by law enforcers across the country.”
The family is “concerned that the officers, deputies and paramedics involved are still employed by their respective agencies and have not been prosecuted,” the lawyer said.
In Friday’s video, Hall said ‘it was found that Perez had a level of methamphetamine in his system that was 24 times the toxic level at the time of his death’, and that it was a contributing factor.
Hall said the incident was “thoroughly investigated” by four different agencies, including the police department, the sheriff, the district attorney in Fresno County and the office of the independent reviewer of the city of Fresno.
“All four agencies concluded that the officers and deputies did not use excessive force and that their actions were within policy, and that the sheriff’s department and the police followed instructions from medical emergency personnel at the scene,” he said. Hall said.
“On behalf of myself and the entire Fresno Police Department, I would like to express my sincere condolences to the family of Joseph Perez for their loss,” he said.
The case of the Perez family will be heard in May 2022.
CNN’s Chris Boyette contributed to this report.