Families seeking justice in older police killings find hope amid a summer of protests

A summer marked by mass protests over the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd came will come to an unofficial end on Labor Day with a patchwork of new police reforms and a sliver of hope for some families seeking justice for loved ones killed under similar circumstances.

Older police-restraint deaths that got little attention or accountability when they happened have received fresh scrutiny amid a season of reckoning on racial inequities and deadly law-enforcement tactics.

Among those deaths is that of Hector Arreola, a 30-year-old Hispanic man killed in 2017 by police in Columbus, Georgia. Officers involved were exonerated and returned to work within days.

Last week, though, a newly elected district attorney for the region told USA TODAY the officers should be charged with aggravated assault and felony murder.

“Hector was not resisting and stated ‘I can’t breathe’ to the officers 16 times while they exerted lethal force on Hector’s body with their butts, knees and elbows,” said Mark Jones, who beat the incumbent DA in the Democratic primary in June with no Republican challengers, and will take office in January.

“These officers should be arrested," Jones said, "and this matter should be presented to our grand jury once the chief justice allows grand juries to reconvene in Georgia.”

Other cases getting fresh attention in the wake of Floyd’s death include the police killings of Elijah McClain in August 2019 in Aurora, Colorado; McKenzie Cochran in January 2014 in Southland, Michigan; Muhammad Abdul Muhaymin Jr. in January 2017 in Phoenix; and Daniel Prude in March in Rochester, New York.

All the men were Black.

They are among dozens of police fatalities since 2010 identified by USA TODAY in which officers used restraint tactics that increase the risk of death — including chokeholds, applying pressure to the neck or back while the person is face down, and tasing them repeatedly into compliance.

USA TODAY in June examined 32 incidents in which the victims said they could not breathe while officers restrained them. The newspaper found that three out of four involved detainees were non-white. More than half were Black men.

In virtually every case, the officers involved faced little repercussion outside being placed on temporary administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.

Since then, dozens of cities and states have enacted police reforms. Denver, Houston, Minneapolis and Phoenix are among those that banned chokeholds, strangleholds and other deadly tactics.

But the families of many victims desire more than reform. They want accountability.

“We don’t want this to happen ever again to anyone,” said Hector Arreola’s father, Rodrigo Arreola. “No one should have to endure three-and-a-half years of hell when it’s so obvious it was a bad situation, it was mishandled and the downside is, it led to our son’s death. Accountability to us is the primary focus here.”

From 'accidental' to 'homicide'

Hector Arreola called 911 twice himself that early morning in January, requesting police assistance and saying someone was threatening his life. After he became erratic, a 300-pound officer sat on Arreola’s back while another held a knee to his neck and kept him face down outside his neighbor’s house for six minutes until he stopped moving and later died.

Hector Arreola was killed during a police encounter in Columbus, Georgia, during which officers held him down until he stopped breathing. A newly elected district attorney said the officers, who were exonerated, should now face felony charges in connection with the death.
Hector Arreola was killed during a police encounter in Columbus, Georgia, during which officers held him down until he stopped breathing. A newly elected district attorney said the officers, who were exonerated, should now face felony charges in connection with the death.

The state medical examiner ruled his death accidental as a result of methamphetamine toxicity.

After a brief administrative leave, the officers involved returned to duty. Arreola’s family filed a civil suit claiming officers used excessive force. The case is still pending.

Also pending is a decision by the District Attorney’s Office about whether to file criminal charges against the officers.

Then, two things happened this summer.

Jones, the incoming district attorney, was elected in June on a campaign promise to fight racial injustice and police brutality. He believes the officers acted negligently.

"As the DA-elect for Columbus, Georgia, my thoughts on the Hector Arreola matter are that Officers Dudley, Aguilar and Everard should be arrested and charged with aggravated assault, as well as felony murder, because there is probable cause that the officers – including one who weighed 300 pounds – committed aggravated assault when they sat on Hector for somewhere between two to four minutes after securing Hector in handcuffs," Jones said. "Because Hector died following the incident, felony murder charges also apply."

And, in July, the state medical examiner amended Hector’s death certificate from accidental to homicide after reviewing police body camera footage made available by the family’s attorney.

“The videos were not available until 18 months after the incident,” Rodrigo Arreola said. “What’s so frustrating about this whole thing is, that through the videos, it’s so obvious that Hector died from the police interaction, with the police use of force.”

Current District Attorney Julia Slater said she has the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s report on Arreola’s death and plans to make a decision regarding the case in the upcoming months. According to the Arreolas’ attorney, the report was completed in 2017.

The Columbus Police Department did not respond to questions about this case this week.

Video surfaces of Daniel Prude

The death of Daniel Prude after a police encounter in March escaped public attention for more than five months until the family last week released a video of the fatal incident.

The footage shows Rochester, New York, police officers placing the naked and delusional 41-year-old man into handcuffs and seating him on near freezing asphalt as snow falls. Prude is rambling and incoherent but initially compliant.

Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man died of asphyxiation complications after being pinned to the ground by police in Rochester, New York.
Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man died of asphyxiation complications after being pinned to the ground by police in Rochester, New York.

After he starts spitting and asking for a gun, the officers flip him onto his stomach, place a spit hood over his head and pin him face down for more than two minutes as he stops moving and eventually stops breathing.

He died one week later after being declared brain dead. The cause of death was “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint due to excited delirium due to acute phencyclidine (PCP) intoxication.”

His family has announced their intention to sue the city.

“Nobody deserves to die when they are in need,” his daughter Tashyra Prude said in a news conference. “The police are put out to protect and serve, not kill, and they did the complete opposite.”

On Thursday, the city took swift action against the seven officers involved. Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren ordered their immediate suspension and rebuked Police Chief La'Ron Singletary for his handling of the case, including a failure to inform her of the full details of the March 23 incident until early August.

“The only way we can confront systemic racism in our city is to face it head-on,” Warren said. “There cannot be a justice system for white people and a justice system for Black people.”

She also accepted the blame for the city’s lack of transparency regarding the case.

“I know that I must do better as a leader in this community,” Warren said. “The buck stops today with me, here, at City Hall. We must as a society, a city, a community face the truth. Institutional and structural racism led to Daniel Prude’s death.”

Reforms amid outcry for McClain

Massage therapist Elijah McClain, 23, was walking home from a convenience store on Aug. 24, 2019, when someone called 911, saying he “looked sketchy” and was wearing a ski mask and waving his arms.

Police detained McClain and placed him in a chokehold while medics gave him a dose of ketamine, a powerful sedative. McClain went into cardiac arrest, was declared brain dead and taken off life support several days later.

His death got renewed attention this summer as protesters across the nation added his name to the list of calls for justice. Officials took action quickly afterward.

FILE - In this June 27, 2020, file photo, Sheneen McClain speaks during a rally and march over the death of her son, Elijah McClain, outside the police department in Aurora, Colo. The parents of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man who died after officers in suburban Denver stopped him on the street last year and put him in a chokehold, sued police and medical officials Tuesday, Aug. 11. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) ORG XMIT: FX205

In June, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis appointed Attorney General Phil Weiser as a special prosecutor to determine whether criminal charges should be filed in the case.

On Aug. 11, Weiser’s office confirmed an additional investigation has been underway for several weeks into “patterns and practices of the Aurora Police Department that might deprive individuals of their constitutional rights under state or federal law.”

A “patterns and practices” investigation is a new authority granted to the attorney general under Colorado’s sweeping law enforcement accountability bill signed in June.

Senate Bill 217 bans chokeholds, requires all police to wear body cameras and imposes punishment for non-compliance, requires officers to intervene in unnecessary force, allows officers to be sued individually, and changes many other use-of-force policies statewide.

“One of the frustrations has been the fact that it took international condemnation before either the city of Aurora or the state of Colorado paid any attention to this tragic death,” McClain family attorney Mari Newton said. “It’s unfortunate that it has taken this moment for people to wake up. But I’m glad the moment is here.”

Michigan case gets fresh eyes

McKenzie Cochran was 25 years old when white security officers held him face down on the floor of the Northland Mall outside Detroit. Video taken of the January 2014 incident shows Cochran repeatedly saying, "I can't breathe, I can't breathe."

In response, one of the officers told him, "If you can talk, you can breathe."

McKenzie Cochran, 25, of Ferndale, died in 2014 after three security officers held him to the ground at Northland Mall. No charges were filed. HIs family hopes the George Floyd protests help reopen his case.
McKenzie Cochran, 25, of Ferndale, died in 2014 after three security officers held him to the ground at Northland Mall. No charges were filed. HIs family hopes the George Floyd protests help reopen his case.

None of the officers were held responsible for Cochran’s death.

In June, protesters demonstrated outside Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper’s office demanding justice for Cochran. One day later, Cooper wrote to the state’s attorney general asking for a new review of the case.

Cooper has long defended her decision not to charge the security guards. Her investigation concluded they were poorly trained but had no intent to harm Cochran, and therefore shouldn't be charged.

"Something should have been done. Something needs to be done. ... I just don't see how you cannot hold someone accountable for taking someone's life," Cochran's brother, Michael, said in an interview with the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network. "My brother did not get justice."

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel agreed to review the case and confirmed last week that effort is still ongoing.

Justice for Muhaymin

In Phoenix, four police officers placed the weight of their bodies on Muhammad Abdul Muhaymin’s head, neck, back and limbs as he lay face-down and handcuffed before going into cardiac arrest and dying in January 2017.

The incident began when Muhaymin, who was Black, Muslim and disabled, tried to take his Chihuahua with him into the bathroom at a city community center and was denied entry.

Video of the incident captures Muhaymin crying, "I can't breathe," several times before he vomited, lost consciousness and was found to have no pulse. He also prays, saying “Please, Allah.”

“Allah? He’s not going to help you right now,” one of the officers responds.

None of the 10 Phoenix police officers connected to Muhaymin's death was charged.

A family member of Muhammad Muhaymin holds a photo of him during a press conference regarding families who have had relatives killed by Phoenix police on Aug. 26, 2020, outside Phoenix City Council Chambers in Phoenix.
A family member of Muhammad Muhaymin holds a photo of him during a press conference regarding families who have had relatives killed by Phoenix police on Aug. 26, 2020, outside Phoenix City Council Chambers in Phoenix.

This summer, Muslim rights organizers made demands for justice in his death. Muslim Advocates in Washington, D.C., and Poder in Action in Phoenix drafted a letter to Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego demanding the firing of officers involved in Muhaymin’s death and the appointment of a special prosecutor with no conflicts of interest to bring charges against them.

“The only thing more disturbing than footage of police officers mocking and murdering a mentally ill man is the fact that these officers have not been fired or charged in the three years since this horrific incident happened,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, in a news release. “It is not too late to pursue justice for Mr. Muhaymin and his loved ones.”

A spokesperson for Adel’s office said Thursday the decision not to charge the officers was made under the prior county attorney and there was no current investigation into Muhaymin’s death.

“Should a law enforcement agency submit the case to our office for a second review, we would then review any new facts and evidence and determine if criminal charges are warranted,” communications Coordinator Jennifer Liewer said in an email.

A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said they could not comment on the case due to ongoing litigation.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Old police killings similar to George Floyd reexamined amid protests