Arizona police chief offers to resign after Hispanic man, 27, who said ‘I can’t breathe’ died in handcuffs in officer’s custody- Carlos Ingram-Lopez was held down for 12 minutes by three cops
Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus offered to resign in a press briefing Wednesday where he released bodycam video of Carlos Ingram-Lopez’s death while in police custody
Ingram-Lopez, 27, died on April 21 after he was pinned to the ground for more than 12 minutes by three cops during his arrest at his grandmother’s home
In the 25-minute bodycam footage the handcuffed man s heard begging for water as the officers immobilized him on the floor
At one point he says ‘I can’t breathe’ – the same words uttered by George Floyd who was ‘murdered’ in Minneapolis last month
The cops keep telling him to ‘relax’ and at one point one of the officers threatens to taser him: ‘You’re going to get shocked dude, you’re going to get zapped’
Around 12 minutes into the video, the cops realize he is unresponsive
The three cops involved in his arrest have already resigned from the force
Officers Jonathan Jackson, Samuel Routledge and Ryan Starbuck, resigned from TPD last week, as the death of Carlos Adrian Ingram-Lopez while in police custody attracted scrutiny
The medical examiner said his cause of death was a ‘sudden cardiac arrest’ and that he had ‘acute cocaine intoxication and an enlarged heart’
Police Chief Chris Magnus [right], made the offer during a press conference Wednesday where he released disturbing bodycam footage showing Carlos Ingram-Lopez’s ‘horrible’ death while being detained by three Tuscon cops back on April 21 who were responding to a call of domestic disturbance
The police chief of Tucson, Arizona, has offered to resign after a Hispanic man, 27, died in handcuffs while pleading ‘I can’t breathe’ more than two months ago.
Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus made the offer during a press conference Wednesday where he released disturbing bodycam footage showing Carlos Ingram-Lopez’s ‘horrible’ death while being detained by three cops back on April 21.
Ingram-Lopez died after he was pinned to the ground for more than 12 minutes as he begged for water and said he couldn’t breathe – the same words uttered by black man George Floyd who was ‘murdered’ by a white cop in Minneapolis last month.
Three cops involved in his arrest, identified as Jonathan Jackson, Samuel Routledge and Ryan Starbuck, have already resigned from the force after an internal investigation recommended their firing.
Bodycam shows the in-custody death of Carlos Ingram-Lopez. Video shows the inhumane restraint of Carlos Ingram-Lopez by three Tuscon cops leading to his death
Chief Magnus called the death of 27-year-old Ingram-Lopez a ‘terrible tragedy’ and ‘horrible’ in the press conference Wednesday.
‘I can’t say enough, this is a terrible tragedy,’ the police chief said.
‘The officers, in this case, did not live up to our department’s high standard,’ he said, adding that if they had not already resigned they would have been fired by the department.
In the shocking bodycam footage, the three officers are seen arriving at Ingram-Lopez’s grandmother’s home at around 1am after she called 911 to report a domestic disturbance.
‘She reported he was drunk, yelling, and running around the house naked,’ Magnus said.
In the 25-minute video, the cops are seen running after the naked man into a dimly-lit garage where they then handcuff him and detain him face down on the ground.
Ingram-Lopez is visibly distressed in the video and is heard repeatedly saying ‘sorry’, screaming and making gasping noises.
At one point he says ‘I can’t breathe’ and repeatedly begs for water from the officers.
‘I wish I had some water,’ he is heard saying. ‘Can you please give me some water?’
The Pima County Attorney’s Office is now conducting a criminal investigation of the actions of the officers involved in the death of Ingram-Lopez, [photo]. The officers all resigned last week, but were going to be fired if they had stayed, police chief Chris Magnus said
This still from the disquieting bodycam footage released Wednesday shows the cops restraining Carlos Ingram-Lopez died after he was pinned to the ground for more than 12 minutes by three officers during his arrest at his grandmother’s home in Tuscon AZ, on April 21
‘I can’t breathe’: In the 25-minute bodycam footage [photo], he is heard begging for water and at one point telling his custodians that he couldn’t breathe
Murder? Eight minutes into the footage, the officers cover Ingram-Lopez with a blanket before he is found to be unresponsive around four minutes later
Around eight minutes into the video, the officers cover his naked body with a blanket.
The cops keep telling him to ‘relax’ and to ‘calm the f** down’.
At one point one of the officers threatens to taser him: ‘You’re going to get shocked dude, you’re going to get zapped.’
Around 12 minutes into the video, the cops realize the man has become unresponsive.
‘He’s gone down,’ one of the officers is heard saying.
‘Is he breathing?’ asks another.
The officers try to wake him, yelling ‘hey’ at him while a distressed woman comes into the garage asking what has happened.
The cops then move Ingram-Lopez and are seen performing CPR on him.
Magnus said the cops also gave him Narcan as they were worried he had overdosed on drugs.
Ingram-Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene after emergency responders arrived and also could not revive him.
The Pima County Medical Examiner said his cause of death was a ‘sudden cardiac arrest’ and that he had ‘acute cocaine intoxication and an enlarged heart.’
They added that there were ‘no shots fired’ in the man’s arrest.
‘The person had been restrained in handcuffs. No blows, strikes, chokeholds, knee to the neck, chemical or electronic weapons were used. No shots were fired,’ the arresting officers wrote in their report.
However, the police chief and mayor have both slammed the actions of the officers.
‘In this video, we see a person who is clearly distressed. A person asking for water, asking for help, asking for his nana,’ Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said of the bodycam footage at Wednesday’s press conference.
‘Now we must center the conversation to police accountability and transparency. When officers do not perform as trained, they need to be held accountable.’
Romero blasted the failings for her office and the public to be notified of the man’s death in police custody immediately after it took place.
‘People are mad, people are disappointed and rightfully so,’ she said.
She called for a ‘swift but a thorough investigation’ into the Hispanic man’s death and vowed to make reforms to the police force.
She also praised Magnus as ‘an honest, a great police chief for the city of Tucson’ and said she didn’t know about his offer of resignation before the meeting.
It is not yet clear if the police chief’s offer will be accepted.
The release of the footage comes more than two months after the incident occurred.
Romero said earlier Wednesday it was being delayed at the request of Ingram-Lopez’s family, who were yet to see it.
Protests in Tuscon over the death of Carlos Ingram-Lopez after the video was released
The 27-year-old’s death is a ‘terrible tragedy’ and ‘horrible’ said police chief Chris Magnus [photo], at a the press conference Wednesday Protests in Tuscon over the death of Carlos Ingram-Lopez 1
The three cops Jackson, Routledge and Starbuck resigned over the incident last week after an investigation by the TPD said they were guilty of failing to take appropriate action, use of force and actions on duty, reported KOLD.com.
‘The investigation revealed a series of actions by each of the three focus officers that showed complete disregard for the training provided to each, disregard for established policy, but most importantly an apparent indifference or inability to recognize an individual in medical distress and take the appropriate action to mitigate the distress,’ Assistant Chief Kevin Hall wrote in the investigation.
The death came to light when a Tucson City Council meeting in which police funding was set to be discussed was suddenly cancelled.
Officers Jonathan Jackson [left], Samuel Routledge and Ryan Starbuck, [right], resigned from the Tucson Police Department last week, as the case of Carlos Adrian Ingram-Lopez who died while in custody on April 21 in Tuscon, AZ., attracted scrutiny
Mayor Romero said: ‘After viewing a video yesterday of a Tucson Police Department in-custody death, I do not feel that it would be appropriate to carry on with business as usual in light of this event.’
According to a TPD personnel report, the three were guilty of failing to take appropriate action, use of force and actions on duty.
“The investigation revealed a series of actions by each of the three focus officers that showed complete disregard for the training provided to each, disregard for established policy, but most importantly an apparent indifference or inability to recognize an individual in medical distress and take the appropriate action to mitigate the distress,” Assistant Chief Kevin Hall wrote in his investigation.
A review board which makes recommendations to Tucson police department has not met since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jaime Tadeo, a member of the board, said recommendations had been made to the department about cops’ training.
‘There have been open conversations with TPD about transparency, about how they are handling their training lately which includes how trained they are in dealing with substance use,’ said Tadeo.
Three other TPD personnel, Sgt. Robert Mitchell, Officer Andrew Fedor and Officer Jerin Soor, were involved in the incident. All three were cleared of wrongdoing during the investigation.
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