The Greensboro Police Department has released the body worn camera videos of the officers involved in the incident on Monday, June 17 on Maybank Drive involving Aaron Michael Andrews who after being detained by police stopped breathing while Guilford County Emergency Medical Services was preparing to transport him to the hospital and was pronounced dead about 20 minutes later.
The police department requested and received permission from North Carolina Superior Court judge Susan Bray to release the videos. Under North Carolina law a police body worn camera video can only be released to the public by the order of a Superior Court Judge.
Greensboro Police Chief Wayne Scott introduces the videos and notes that it was being done because there were questions about the incident since Andrews died after being detained by police.
In this case, it appears the videos should help quell any questions about the police behavior. For instance, Andrews suffered some abrasions on his legs and from the police video the viewer can see that those abrasions were there when the police responded to a call from a woman about a man trying to break into her house and found Andrews in her carport.
Andrews was unable to respond to questions from police about who he was or what he was doing. His responses are unintelligible and he was clearly in distress.
One of Andrews’s housemates told police that shortly before they were called, he saw Andrews walking down the street and Andrews had dirt all over him, had what looked like vomit in his mustache and was covered in sweat.
The police did handcuff Andrews after they found him agitated and incoherent. But after handcuffing him, police officers found what looked like a car seat for him to lean against and tried to keep him calm. At one point an officer was holding each foot as Andrews struggled. It appears they were trying to keep him from hurting himself. Police officers repeatedly urge Andrews to keep breathing and to take deep breaths. They assure him that help is on the way.
The officers continue to talk to Andrews to try to calm him while waiting for EMS to arrive. There was short struggle when the officers were handcuffing Andrews, partly caused by the fact that Andrews was a large man and the police had to use two sets of handcuffs.
No doubt those that find fault with everything the Greensboro Police Department does will find fault with the actions of the officers in this case, but the video is available at the City of Greensboro website at https://www.greensboro-nc.gov/departments/police/gpd-cases. You can watch it and make your own decision.
The police department prepared a compilation of the police body worn videos and also posted the individual videos of three officers on the scene. The camera of one of the officers present was not working, so there were four officers and three videos.
Also included is a video of an officer who responded to a call from the house where Andrews lived. As Scott explains the police believe the call is related and provides some additional information.
Full disclosure, I am a firm supporter of GPD , GFD and all law enforcement, so I lean towards backing them first. In this case, as the video shows, they were very careful with this man due to the common sense fact that they could tell he was in real distress. The extra precaution of handcuffs was not only for his safety but theirs and the EMS that finally showed up. It is a shame that he succumbed through his own efforts, I wish we could save them all, but bad things happen to those that do foolish things. My one disagreement is with the automatic desk duty that these great Greensboro police officers have to accept for doing their job. That is not right. In fact , he didn’t die till he was handed over to the EMS. Do you see them getting desk duty , NO, and they should not. I give a big shout out to the GPD officers and the EMS that responded. Thank you for your service.
I will say that it seems to be EMS that needs some scrutiny. Just like Marcus Smith, EMS seems to have no sense of urgency. GPD called in for EMS 10-39 (emergency traffic) and it took almost 8 minutes for anyone to arrive. Instead of all the scrutiny being on GPD, someone needs to look at EMS’s nonchalant response, and attitude toward these situations. There is now 2 “in custody” deaths for GPD in the past few months both occurred while GPD sat and waited on EMS to come about causally. I agree with Mac that it is always police officers that are faced with IA investigations, desk duty, and the fear of getting their work record smeared or having a PC hearing in Raleigh when something like this happens. What will be EMS’s response to this?
Well I can agree with you both. But like everyone else even the medical services are short staffed. understand if the area medic units are out of service because of hospital runs and stuff, they have to pull from outside of the city. I would like people to look into our medical protocols before making an opinion
I agree that EMS is, like other departments, woefully understaffed. However; what happened to all the community medics and quick response units and/or supervisors that should have been available? Why did it take Fire almost the same amount of time? No one ever evaluates those things, only blames the officers and demands investigations and IA which could ultimately jeopardizes their career.