Visual Story

Learn about key cases and findings through this visual story that examines force tactics meant to be safer than firearms

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Every day, police rely on common tactics that, unlike guns, are meant to stop people without killing them. These include physical holds, Tasers and body blows.

As with George Floyd, however, when misused, these tactics can still end in death.

An agitated man trespasses in a parking lot.

DEMETRIO JACKSON

Age 43

A grandfather off his schizophrenia medication loiters outside a store.

DELBERT McNIEL

Age 48

A young man suffers a seizure at home.

AUSTIN HUNTER TURNER

Age 23

Officers shocked all three with Tasers and pinned them facedown in handcuffs. Medics administered powerful sedatives to two of them.

How many people die after encounters involving what is known as “less-lethal force”?

Damien Alvarado

Age 29

Ivan Gutzalenko

Age 47

Austin Turner

Age 23

Anthony Timpa

Age 32

Giovani Berne

Age 18

Demetrio Jackson

Age 43

Glenn Ybanez

Age 37

Mario Clark

Age 31

A team of journalists led by The Associated Press set out to investigate. Looking over a decade, they documented more than 1,000 deaths.

Those who died were of all walks of life and races, though the toll disproportionately hit Black people.

The oldest was 95. The youngest was just 15.

Many were experiencing a mental health or drug crisis.

Police say they are often responding to volatile and sometimes violent situations, and deaths are rare.

Medical officials cited law enforcement as causing or contributing to about half of the deaths. In many others, significant police force went unmentioned and drugs or preexisting health conditions were blamed instead.

How do these encounters play out? What is known about those who died? And why does the nation understand so little about these cases?

Lethal Restraint

An investigation documenting police use of force

Chapter 1

How It Happens

A police response to a minor property crime escalates. Demetrio Jackson says he can’t breathe.

Chapter 2

Who Dies

Deaths after less-lethal force affect people from all walks of life. Learn about the cases of a young man, a former U.S. Marine and a grandfather.

Chapter 3

Why Deaths Go Unnoticed

After Demetrio Jackson’s death, his mother has nightmares. She wants someone to be held accountable.

Demetrio Jackson was the oldest child in a large Indiana family, and later became a father himself. He was known for his big smile, playful jokes and the cross he wore around his neck.

His younger brother Brandon Miller said Jackson was his mentor.

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Jackson struggled with his mental health and an addiction to methamphetamine. He had been in and out of jail and ended up living on the streets of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Before dawn on Oct. 8, 2021, a morning radio host called 911 to report a man standing on a truck in the station’s parking lot.

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Altoona police arrived at the scene, near the border of Eau Claire. Jackson was high on meth, struggling to focus and speaking incoherently. Officers said he could leave if he gave his name and asked if he wanted an ambulance, but Jackson declined.

After a 40-minute interaction, the officers decided to arrest Jackson when they learned he was known to carry a knife, was on probation for meth possession and noticed the truck’s roof was damaged.

Jackson took off running. The officers chased him.

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Jackson stopped, turned around and began to move toward an officer. She shocked him with a Taser.

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Officers struggled with Jackson and shocked him a second time as he was on the ground.

Altoona Police Department policy cautions that shocking a suspect multiple times should be avoided when possible. The weapon’s maker warns that drug-intoxicated people may be particularly susceptible to “the risk of death or serious injury,” a warning echoed in other national policing guidelines.

Altoona PD Policy: Stun Guns

Officers should apply the ECD for only one standard cycle and then evaluate the situation before applying any subsequent cycles. Multiple applications of the ECD against a single individual are generally not recommended and should be avoided unless the officer reasonably believes that the need to control the individual outweighs the potentially increased risk posed by multiple applications.

View document pdf

Taser Manufacturer Warnings for Law Enforcement

Particularly Susceptible Individuals. Include those who are already physiologically or metabolically compromised due to heart disease, asthma or other pulmonary conditions, and people suffering from excited delirium, profound agitation, severe exhaustion, drug intoxication or chronic drug abuse, or over-exertion from physical struggle.

View document pdf

Officers from the Eau Claire Police Department arrived as backup and came up with a plan to get him handcuffed.

Officers moved Jackson facedown and held him in what is known as the prone position while they cuffed and searched him. They found no weapon.

The department’s policy says officers should avoid placing people who are experiencing “drug-induced psychosis” in the prone position once they are restrained because it increases their risk of sudden death.

A department review later found that the officers’ actions were within guidelines because they kept Jackson in prone for a short period of time, and used “the lowest level of physical force available to them.”

Jackson’s condition deteriorated as he repeated, “I can’t breathe.”

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“I can’t breathe.”

Police body cameras recorded those words in dozens of deaths reporters reviewed, from an Arizona parking lot to the front yard of a rural Georgia home.

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Police officers are commonly trained that putting suspects on their stomachs is a safe way to handcuff them — but medical experts warn not to keep them in that position for long.

The prone position can restrict breathing, especially if officers put pressure on the person’s back.

There are no national rules about applying force, so policies and training on the prone position vary widely.

Most policing experts and doctors agree that officers should roll suspects onto their sides or sit them up as soon as possible.

Several experts on the impact of prone told the AP that for those held facedown, inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide becomes harder, increasing the likelihood of death. The heart can stop if a person can’t get rid of carbon dioxide fast enough.

Failing to breathe in enough oxygen can also lead to asphyxiation.

A couple of minutes after handcuffing Jackson, the officers turned him on his side and then sat him up. As he struggled to breathe, medics treated him with oxygen.

Then one of them injected him with ketamine — a powerful sedative.

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Minutes later, Jackson suffered cardiac arrest and was taken to the hospital.

His mother, Rita Gowens, learned the news from one of Demetrio’s brothers.

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Chapter 1

How It Happens

A police response to a minor property crime escalates. Demetrio Jackson says he can’t breathe.

Chapter 2

Who Dies

Deaths after less-lethal force affect people from all walks of life. Learn about the cases of a young man, a former U.S. Marine and a grandfather.

Chapter 3

Why Deaths Go Unnoticed

After Demetrio Jackson’s death, his mother has nightmares. She wants someone to be held accountable.

Those who died included dads and moms. Grandparents and students. Military veterans and churchgoers.

Taylor Ware

Age 24

Michael Guillory

Age 37

Robbin McNeely

Age 56

Evan Terhune

Age 20

Steven Beasley

Age 37

Seth Lucas

Age 38

Drew Edwards

Age 22

Jerica Lacour

Age 29

Carl Grant

Age 69

Jack Lunneen

Age 51

White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian and Pacific Islander — no race or ethnicity was untouched. Nearly all were men.

Among the deceased were executives and tradesmen. A poet, a critical care nurse, a rodeo clown. A handful worked in law enforcement but were not in uniform.

The investigation identified deadly encounters in nearly every state.

Because some states release little information, they appear to have fewer deaths than might truly be the case.

The deceased lived not just in big cities, but also in suburbs and small towns.

The most common location of the encounter was in or near their own home.

One summer night in 2017, Austin Hunter Turner told his girlfriend that he wasn’t feeling right, then collapsed.

Turner had a history of seizures, and that’s how the 911 call came in. When medics arrived at his apartment in Bristol, Tennessee, they thought the 23-year-old was on drugs. They were unable to control him and called the police to help.

The police and medics eventually pinned Turner facedown on a recliner, and an officer shocked him with a Taser. A paramedic sprayed a sedative up Turner’s nose, but most of it ended up on the medic.

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Turner was kept facedown, while one of the officers put a spit hood on him. He stopped breathing in the back of an ambulance, where responders tried to resuscitate him for about 10 minutes.

A paramedic asked, “What the hell happened here?” and if the officer’s body camera was recording.

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Then the police officer turned off his body camera.

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The pathologist who performed the autopsy said Turner died from “multiple drug toxicity,” citing marijuana and a prescription drug that treats opioid addiction. The use of force was not cited as a contributing cause.

But two former medical examiners consulted by the AP reviewed the body camera footage and autopsy report and said that the police use of force contributed to Turner’s death.

Neither the police nor the fire department in Bristol would comment on the case.

The Sullivan County District Attorney told the AP that he reviewed the findings and materials from a state investigation and concluded that Turner’s death was a drug overdose. The DA said none of the police officers’ techniques had contributed to his death.

In sheer numbers, white people of non-Hispanic descent were the largest group, but deaths disproportionately affected Black people.

Carl Grant had served for almost a decade of active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps, including during the Vietnam War. He was living with dementia.

On Super Bowl Sunday in 2020, Grant drove off from his Georgia home. A few hours and nearly 200 miles later, he was wandering and confused in a Birmingham, Alabama, neighborhood.

Twice he tried to get into houses that he thought were his. At the second residence, the homeowner called in a burglary, and responding officers found Grant sitting on a porch chair. He insisted he was at home. In the interaction, an officer pushed Grant down the front steps, then officers handcuffed him.

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Grant was hurt, so the officer who pushed him went with Grant to the hospital. According to the officer’s account, just before Grant was about to be discharged, he left the exam room to charge a cellphone he imagined he had. When he wouldn’t stay put, the officer slammed Grant onto the floor.

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The force damaged the spinal cord in Grant’s neck, paralyzing him. Family members say he apologized for the injury, which he thought happened during Vietnam. He died nearly six months later. The death certificate worksheet listed the injuries from the body slam as the cause.

After an internal investigation, the Birmingham Police Department said the officer used excessive force. He was suspended for 15 days and required to be retrained on use of force and de-escalation techniques. He now works for a nearby department, and his attorney declined to make him available for an interview.

A judge, citing a procedural error, dismissed a lawsuit filed by Grant’s estate against the city and the officer. The case is being appealed.

Carl Grant wasn’t violent. But, in some of the cases, officers faced dangerous situations.

About 30% of the people who died had injured others or posed a threat of danger, a review of the data shows.

Many encounters began in response to a mental health crisis or erratic behavior linked to drug use — and sometimes both.

Delbert McNiel was, his daughter recalls, a doting grandfather and friendly “country boy” who lived in Hamlin, Texas. He also had a history of schizophrenia, drug use, and conflicts with the police. In 2014, after stealing a police car, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity of assault, robbery and evading arrest.

One night in 2017, an officer responding to a disturbance call outside a convenience store approached McNiel, who was holding some tools. The officer knew him from prior incidents, including one that turned violent months earlier and led to an assault charge.

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McNiel went across the street to a nearby residence. The officer followed him and tried to get him to hand over a screwdriver. Another officer arrived on the scene, and they detained McNiel.

McNiel told the officers he was having a mental health problem and had done nothing wrong.

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The officers responded with force when McNiel fought them as they tried to get him into a squad car. On the way to jail, he began kicking the window and, police said, pulled out the wires of the in-car video camera. They stopped and called medics for assistance.

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During the struggle, officers repeatedly shocked McNiel. In all, they fired Tasers 11 times in 17 minutes.

The officers restrained McNiel in the prone position for nearly 22 minutes. He became unresponsive and soon died at a hospital.

The medical examiner ruled the death accidental and cited McNiel’s meth use and mental illness. He said “it cannot be ascertained that deployment of Taser and physical restraint were the primary underlying cause.”

Two experts who reviewed the case for the AP said the officers kept McNiel in the prone position for far too long, and one called their use of the Taser excessive.

The officers said in their reports they believed the restraint was the safest way to control McNiel.

A grand jury declined to bring any charges in the case.

The Hamlin police chief said the officers were no longer with the department; neither of them responded to requests for comment.

Chapter 1

How It Happens

A police response to a minor property crime escalates. Demetrio Jackson says he can’t breathe.

Chapter 2

Who Dies

Deaths after less-lethal force affect people from all walks of life. Learn about the cases of a young man, a former U.S. Marine and a grandfather.

Chapter 3

Why Deaths Go Unnoticed

After Demetrio Jackson’s death, his mother has nightmares. She wants someone to be held accountable.

Demetrio Jackson was on life support after his interaction with officers in Wisconsin. His younger brother arrived at the hospital after an eight-hour trip.

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After two weeks in a coma, Jackson’s ventilator was removed. Family members gathered to watch him take his final breaths.

His mother says she’s still haunted by the night her son was restrained by the police.

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Before Jackson was injected with ketamine, officers said that he might be experiencing “excited delirium,” a term intended to describe the actions of extremely agitated people who may be dangerous. It has long been cited to explain sudden deaths of people restrained by police.

The AP investigation found officers repeatedly using the term excited delirium to describe a wide range of behaviors of people who died.

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In recent years, prominent medical groups and experts have disputed law enforcement’s and medical examiners’ use of the concept of excited delirium to explain injuries or deaths in police custody.

In dozens of cases where officers or medics cited excited delirium, people detained by police were injected with powerful sedatives such as ketamine and midazolam.

AP’s investigation found the practice of sedating people outside hospitals when they are suspected of having excited delirium has quietly spread over the last 15 years.

The intent is to calm people who may be a threat to themselves or others so they can be safely transported to hospitals for treatment.

But the medical groups and experts have pointed to a pattern of misuse of sedation during law enforcement encounters and a disproportionate impact on Black people.

EMS trainer and paramedic Eric Jaeger says the concept of excited delirium has led to an overuse of sedation, despite risks that include serious side effects, such as respiratory depression, and, in rare cases, death.

He evaluated Demetrio Jackson’s case for the AP.

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Five experts, including Jaeger, told the AP Jackson’s behavior did not appear to be dangerous enough to justify the use of ketamine.

In their public statements, the police departments did not mention ketamine.

The sedation was redacted in an EMS report, but when AP uploaded the document, some redactions disappeared, revealing Jackson was given 400 milligrams of ketamine — enough to immobilize someone his size within minutes.

The autopsy report stated he’d only been given 100 milligrams. A spokesperson for the medical examiner said the discrepancy wasn’t significant.

Jackson’s death was ruled accidental due to complications from meth use.

Police involvement was not noted on his death certificate. But two forensic pathologists who reviewed the case for the AP said meth wasn’t the only factor. They both pointed to police restraint as likely contributing to his death, and one blamed the use of ketamine.

After a state investigation, the county prosecutor cited the autopsy findings in determining that Jackson’s was not an “officer-involved death” under Wisconsin law.

Eau Claire County District Attorney Letter

Upon review and consideration of that information, I have concluded that this incident does not meet the statutory definition of “officer-involved death.”

View document pdf

All seven officers who put their hands on Jackson were cleared by their departments after internal reviews found no policy violations and that their force was justified. The chiefs of the two police departments and the fire department declined comment.

Jackson’s relatives would like to pursue a lawsuit aimed at holding police and paramedics responsible but have struggled to find a lawyer to take the case.

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Officers faced criminal charges in less than 3% of the deaths this investigation documented. At least 168 deaths led to civil court settlements or jury verdicts totaling more than $374 million. Additional lawsuits are pending.

The Associated Press worked with The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism programs at the University of Maryland and Arizona State University to identify deaths after “less lethal” force. The investigation found 1,036 cases during the decade covering 2012–2021. Search through these cases, read their names and learn more about the circumstances of their deaths.

All Cases

View related articles, watch the documentary and read the reporting methodology.

Articles

Documentary

Methodology

Produced in collaboration with The Associated Press, FRONTLINE, and The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism programs at the University of Maryland and Arizona State University.

View project credits

Visual Story

Lethal Restraint

An investigation documenting police use of force

Altoona PD Policy: Stun Guns

Taser Manufacturer Warnings for Law Enforcement

Eau Claire County District Attorney Letter

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