Unarmed Alabama man's death ruled a homicide after police officer kneeled on his neck
The report issued by the Jefferson County medical examiner's office concludes Reeder, of Irondale, Alabama, died last August of heart failure "associated with cocaine use and restraint during altercation."
Officers in the Alabama suburb 10 miles from Birmingham were dispatched to a local highway just after 5 a.m. on August 6, 2024, after one of Reeder's colleagues called 911 to report a medical emergency, according to Reeder's wife, Sandra Lee Reeder. Phillip Reeder, who owned a construction company, was driving home from a job in Memphis, Tennessee, she said.
At the time, police said Reeder was wandering in and out of traffic when they approached him, according to AL.com.
Body camera video of Reeder's death has not been released publicly, but Sandra Lee Reeder and her attorneys said they reviewed it last week.
"Phillip is heard clearly not once, not twice, but three times 'I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe,'" Sandra Lee Reeder said at a news conference Monday, CBS affiliate WIAT-TV reported.
A 2023 state law that governs release of police recordings says the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency may choose to not disclose the recording if it would affect an active law enforcement investigation.
An email seeking comment from the Irondale police chief was sent Monday morning.
Sandra Lee Reeder said that the body camera footage shows her husband running from police when they arrived. Police then shocked Reeder with a Taser, placed him in handcuffs and laid him on his stomach, she said. One officer put his knee on Reeder's neck for over three minutes, she said.
"If I stand right here and count to 120 seconds — a lot can happen. That's three minutes," the family's attorney Harry Daniels said, according to WIAT. "A knee was on the back of his neck while he was in handcuffs."
The autopsy said Reed had multiple non-lethal wounds and bruising from the attempted arrest by the police. Sandra Lee Reeder said she could see he was bleeding from his face in the video.
Reeder was unresponsive when the officer rolled him over onto his back, according to the coroner's report. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital just after 6:30 a.m.
Daniels, the attorney for the Reeder family, compared the fatality to the death of George Floyd in 2020, which prompted months of protests and widespread scrutiny over police tactics.
"This world was captivated and shocked about what happened in 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2024, the exact same thing happened," Daniels said at a news conference outside Irondale City Hall on Monday.
Daniels said that the only difference between what happened to Reeder and Floyd is race: Reeder was White and Floyd was Black. Reeder may have committed misdemeanor disorderly conduct by wandering into traffic, but "it is not warranted for a knee in the back - that is deadly force," he said.
Reeder's two sons said that they also reviewed the body camera video of their father's last moments this month after almost a year of asking the local police department and state agency for more information.
"What I have gone through these past 11 months should not happen to any 19-year-old," Zachariah Phillip Reeder said.
WIAT reported the city of Irondale provided a statement after the press conference, which reads in part:
The City of Irondale and the Irondale Police Department do not agree with the characterization of events by Ms. Sandra Reeder regarding the death of Phillip Reeder.
On 8/6/2024 at approximately 5:10 am, Irondale 911 received several calls regarding a white male subject (later identified as Phillip Reeder) running in and out of traffic on Highway 78 near Old Leeds Road. Officers were dispatched to the area and located the subject who appeared to be under the influence and behaving erratically. Despite multiple commands to comply, Mr. Reeder continued running in the road and shouting. As Mr. Reeder posed a danger to himself and others, a Taser was deployed to bring Mr. Reeder to the ground and assist officers with detaining Mr. Reeder. Even after deployment of the Taser, Mr. Reeder continued to resist and would not follow commands of the officers. Once handcuffed, Mr. Reeder continued to struggle and resist for almost two minutes.
Officers did hold Mr. Reeder to the ground using their arms only. No knee was placed in the back of his neck, and no excessive force was used. Mr. Reeder stopped resisting, and the officers realized that he had stopped breathing. They immediately turned him over, checked for a pulse and began CPR until the paramedics arrived.
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