Sandy MaloneRaleigh, NC – Officials have released bodycam video of the fatal January arrest of 32-year-old Darryl Tyree Williams who stopped breathing after officers Tased him multiple times (video below).
Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson said the incident occurred at about 2 a.m. on Jan. 17 while officers were conducting “proactive patrols” in a parking lot about a mile outside of downtown, The Washington Post reported.
Bodycam video showed that officers approached Williams’ parked car and told him they were “checking on people.”
The police report said that officers could see an open container of alcohol and marijuana in the car, so they asked the driver and passenger to get out of the vehicle, The Washington Post reported.
“We’re not doing nothing,” Williams told the officers in the video.
Officers searched the suspect vehicle and fold a folded dollar bill containing “a white powdery substance,” The Washington Post reported.
That was when an officer went to take Williams into custody, bodycam video showed.
Police told Williams to put his hands behind his back and get on the ground, but he resisted arrest and tried to flee, The Washington Post reported.
Just as it looked as if Williams was about to escape custody, an officer warned him in the video “Stop or you’ll get Tased.”
A split-second later an officer deployed a Taser to stop the fleeing suspect and Williams fell to the ground, the bodycam video showed.
The preliminary police report said that Williams “lost his balance and fell forward to the ground,” according to The Washington Post.
Once Williams was down, bodycam video showed two officers holding their Tasers against him in what is known as “drive stun” mode.
An officer warned the suspect he would be stunned again if he didn’t stop resisting, The Washington Post reported.
A moment later, Williams told the officers trying to take him into custody that he had a heart problem, the video showed.
But despite that warning, bodycam video showed an officer deployed a Taser on Williams again and then the suspect lost consciousness, The Washington Post reported.
“Is he still good?” an officer asked in the video.
“Is he breathing?” another officer asked. “I don’t feel a pulse.”
“Hey, c’mon, wake up,” an officer said to Williams.
Bodycam video showed that as soon as officers realized their suspect unconscious and not breathing, they began administering CPR, The Washington Post reported.
Williams was transported to the hospital as soon as the ambulance arrived and was pronounced dead at 3:01 a.m.
Family members have complained that Chief Patterson only released selected parts of the video and failed to show how Williams lay handcuffed on the ground for 20 minutes before the ambulance arrived, The Washington Post reported.
“He was already dead by then,” his mother, 57-year-old Sonya Williams, said.
She has urged police to release all of the bodycam footage from her son’s arrest, The Washington Post reported.
The police report showed that officers found two guns during their search of Williams’ car, one of which had been reported stolen, WTTG reported.
All six officers involved in Williams’ arrest have been placed on paid administrative leave while the death in custody is investigated.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. WARNING – Graphic Content:
Holly Matkin
