Officers cleared in death of CT man who died following struggle during shoplifting investigation

Yahoo

a day ago

Multiple Milford police officers have been cleared in the death of a man who went into cardiac arrest shortly after a struggle with police as authorities were investigating a shoplifting complaint at a supermarket last June.
The report detailing the investigation, released Tuesday by the Connecticut Office of Inspector General, said the death of 52-year-old Michael Brown was caused by a heart attack that was brought on by the struggle with officers with the Milford Police Department. However, the investigation determined that police did not use excessive force during the struggle and that their actions would not have led to someone's death without the underlying health conditions that Brown had, Inspector General Robert Devlin, Jr., wrote.
On June 5, 2024, Milford officers were dispatched to the Stop & Shop on Bridgeport Avenue just after 10:30 a.m. after store employees claimed that saw a man they identified as Brown fill a trash bag with about $648 worth of cleaning supplies, the report said. Brown allegedly spotted one of the loss prevention officers watching him and left the merchandise behind, leaving the store and driving away in a red Ford Fusion.
The vehicle was located shortly thereafter in the parking lot of a Big Y on Boston Post Road. Officer Gregory Marriner and Officer Austin Groves positioned their cruisers in front of and behind the Focus, the report said. Inside the vehicle, a man with a dog told police he had been with a man named 'Michael,' who he said was in the store, according to the report.
Shortly thereafter, police spotted Brown coming out of the store and confronted him. Body camera footage from the incident shows that Brown told police his name was 'Peter' as he continued toward the Focus. Police asked him for his identification and told him not to get into the car.
Footage from police, released along with Devlin's report, showed that Marriner and Groves struggled for over a minute to get Brown out of the driver seat. According to the report, police believed he was going to take off after he reached toward the ignition.
Milford chief releases additional arrest footage of man who later died in police custody
During the struggle, Brown tells police 'wait' several times and then says his leg is broken, the footage shows.
'My leg is broken, look at it,' Brown shouts.
'I'm asking you please,' Brown said. 'I'm asking you please, bro.'
Police were able to pull Brown out of the vehicle shortly after Sgt. Edward O'Keefe and Officer Stephani Peloso arrived to help, the report said. As they did, he shouted multiple more times that his leg was broken, the footage shows.
Brown continued to say his leg was broken as he was placed onto his stomach and handcuffed, according to the footage. He then says multiple times that he can't breathe as he is being restrained.
According to the report, Brown was wanted on multiple warrants accusing him of shoplifting. Paramedics from the Milford Fire Department responded to the scene after he was secured in handcuffs. After he was handcuffed, Brown continued saying his leg was broken and requested water — which he was given.
Once he was on the stretcher, Lt. Josh Stanton of the Milford Fire Department noted that Brown was breathing heavily and fast, according to the report. Stanton said Brown was sweating and his skin was warm to the touch so he made the decision to immediately take Brown to the Milford Campus of Bridgeport Hospital, which was only a few minutes away, the report said.
During transport, Brown was given oxygen. Stanton said he suspected narcotic intake since Brown's pupils were dilated and he was experiencing agonal breathing and he administered two milligrams of Narcan, according to the report.
Stanton administered two milligrams of Narcan. While in the ambulance, Stanton said Brown's body went limp and he went into cardiac arrest. He arrived at the hospital at 11:12 a.m. and was pronounced dead 20 minutes later, the report said.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Brown's death was a homicide, finding that he died of cardiac arrhythmia due to hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, the report said. His medical emergency, the autopsy showed, was brought on by his struggle with the officers, according to the report.
A doctor with the medical examiner's office went over her findings with Devlin's office and said his death was 'less about the actions of the police and more about Brown's heightened arousal during the struggle.'
The doctor, the report said, 'did not believe that the struggle would have been lethal to a person without the underlying health problems exhibited by Brown,' Devlin wrote. 'For Brown, however, the duress of the struggle with the police tipped the scales leading to the cardiac arrhythmia that caused his death.'
The toxicology report showed that Brown had fentanyl, oxycodone and THC in his system, the report said. An exam also found that his leg was not fractured, according to the report.
Devlin's analysis of the incident found that police did not use excessive force when they removed Brown from the vehicle.
'His medical reaction was not due to the officers' use of force but to his precarious medical condition which, under the stress of the struggle, caused Brown to go into cardiac arrest,' Devlin wrote.
Devlin's investigation concluded that the in-custody death 'was not due to the use of excessive force by Milford police officers nor to was it the result of criminality. To the contrary, it was rooted in Brown's underlying cardiovascular disease.'