Newly released camera footage of the body of a May 2017 incident provides new details about the death of Joseph Perez, a man who died after being restrained by police in Fresno, California.
In his last moments, Perez told agents, “I can’t breathe,” according to a 16-minute video of the incident released Friday.
In the video, 41-year-old Perez can be seen in distress lying face to the ground as an officer repeatedly tells him to breathe.
Perez can be heard to cops, “help me.” He later died on the way to the hospital.
When officers first saw Perez, they said he looked insane and was on the roadway.
An officer said, “Joseph, we’re here to help you.”
A lawsuit filed by Perez’s family accuses three entities: the Fresno County Sheriff’s Deputies, Fresno Police Department and the U.S. Ambulance, which the family says asked police to use an ambulance sign to detain him. – a maneuver paramedics suggested to help secure Perez so they could catch him in the ambulance.
The video shows an officer sitting on Perez. He says, “We have to sit on that plate.”
Michelle Perez, Joseph Perez’s sister, said, “16 minutes was the amount of time I watched while my brother was killed.”
The then police chief – Andrew Hall – said an internal investigation showed no excessive force was being used, and accuses the drugs of the death of Perez, who he said “became belligerent.”
“Mr. Perez was found to have a methamphetamine level 24 times the toxic level,” Hall said.
The coroner’s office determined that Perez died of “asphyxiation during restraints.”