Escambia sheriff fired 1 deputy, investigating 2 others after in-custody death of man

One deputy has been terminated and two others are under investigation after a man died in the custody of the Escambia County Sheriff's Office on Friday.

Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons made the announcement in a press conference Monday to provide "transparency" on the in-custody death of a 51-year-old man whose identity has not been publicly released.

"I want to make sure that that doesn't happen again," Simmons said in the press conference Monday. "I want to make sure everyone here understands what those expectations are, what those policies are for and then that there is a basic care that we expect."

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The ECSO first reported the death in a Facebook post Friday, writing that deputies responded to a call about an individual acting erratically shortly before noon that day at the northwest corner of W Street and Michigan Avenue.

Simmons said the man did not physically fight with deputies, but resisted briefly while being handcuffed.

The reporting deputy took the individual into custody for a mental health evaluation based on their own observation and witness information.

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Deputies realized the man was in distress after taking him into custody. Emergency medical personnel were called and arrived on scene within minutes, according to ECSO. The man was assessed and treated when EMS arrived, and later pronounced dead.

Simmons said when later watching the body camera footage featuring three of his deputies handling the situation, their actions were not up to the county's standard.

"I wish that we would have done better," Simmons said.

Simmons said he could not detail any specific misconduct of the deputies while the investigation was ongoing. However, he noted he did see alarming indicators on the tape, such as the man on his stomach on the floor of a deputy's vehicle. The deputies attempted to remedy the situation, placing the man in a "recovery position" outside of the vehicle when he demonstrated distress, he said.

One of the deputies, who was recently hired and still under a new employee probation, was immediately terminated from the department. The two others who aided in the response were still under investigation.

An autopsy on the deceased man was underway, Simmons said, which will reveal more on the man's cause of death. Until the results are released, he said, he is unable to deem whether the death could have been preventable.

"I don't know the results of the autopsy, but (what) I can tell you is what I saw on the in-car video, what I saw on the body cam video, is not equal to my expectations. It's not equal to the expectations of the citizens of Escambia County," Simmons said. "For that matter and for that reason, I've ordered an investigation into all three of the deputies and as I mentioned earlier, the one deputy has been relieved of his duties as of this afternoon."

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While Simmons acknowledged he watched the footage with the "benefit of hindsight," he said the deputies' response did not align with the expectations of his department.

Mercy EMS responded to the scene where the man eventually died.

Simmons said he was unsure how much time had passed between when deputies arrived on scene and the man's time of death.

"I'm just telling you that my promise to Escambia County is that we will be open, we will be transparent — and I am being as open, as transparent, as quickly as I possibly can," Simmons said.

Because this was an in-custody death, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will handle the death investigation and then the case will move to the state attorney's office to determine if there were any criminal violations. Body camera footage is unable to be released to the public at this time.

The victim's name and names of responding deputies were also not able to be released.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Escambia Sheriff Chip Simmons fired one deputy, investigating 2 others