BALTIMORE — After an initial delay, the Maryland Office of the Attorney General has released six hours of body camera footage in connection to an in-custody death.
It shows Baltimore City police officers waiting nearly 45 minutes for a medic who never shows for man experiencing a mental health crisis in Southwest Baltimore on June 24.
That man, identified as 31-year-old Dontae Melton Jr., later died at the hospital around 3 a.m. after officers transported him to the hospital themselves.
“Where is this medic? This is insane," one officer can be heard saying 22 minutes after police's first interaction with Melton.
Another 20 minutes go by. Once again it's noted that a medic has not arrived.
At that time, another officer is heard saying on bodycam:
“We have three fire stations sub two miles from here. I could have made a smoke signal by now that would have gotten the fire department here."
In July, Mayor Brandon Scott stated that the city was investigating technology failures of the Computer-Aided Dispatch or CAD system in relation to Melton's death.
Portions of the video's audio have been redacted "to protect the integrity of the investigation" which is ongoing by the state's Independent Investigations Division.
"When you see something like that we know that we have to make sure that we are building systems that are able to treat people in the moment for what they need. And we're taking it very seriously, to working with the Attorney General and his team to look at all things, to following all rules and regulations and any outcomes that come from that active investigation," Mayor Scott said on Wednesday.
The footage begins when Officer Gerard Pettiford first sees Melton around 9:41 p.m. at the corner of West Franklin Street and North Franklintown Road clearly in distress, pulling on his car doors and asking for help.
Melton tells the officer "you gotta help me bro. Please bro, please. It's an emergency. Somebody is chasing me, they're hiding right now."
Initially, Officer Pettiford only calls for one extra unit for assistance. But the situation quickly deteriorates.
While the officer tries to get Melton to calm down, he becomes more agitated and is seen running in the middle of the street multiple times.
A struggle ensues while Officer Pettiford tries to place Melton in handcuffs. Several officers arrive on the scene to assist. It takes four officers to restrain Melton, who continues to yell and act erratically.
Once his arms and legs are restrained, Melton can be seen on the ground yelling and rolling back and forth, now with protective head gear on.
Minutes later, officers attempt to pick up Melton and put him in a police car as their wait for a medic continues. At this time, Melton was no longer speaking and was not able to stand up on his own.
Officers could be heard saying: "We got you a medic, ok?" But Melton again does not respond.
Around 33 minutes after the initial call for help, Officer Pettiford calls once again for a medic. He also states multiple times during the video he needs one too, for his hand which sustained injuries during the earlier struggle to restrain Melton.
Nearly 50 minutes after the interaction with Melton began, officers begin to worry it is getting too late.
"His breathing is getting shallower and shallower," Officer Jacob Dahl tells the Sergeant on scene Joshua Jackson. "We're going to have to put him in a car. We can't continue to wait for a medic I think at this point."
“It’s crazy because this puts the onus on us now. This puts it on us," Jackson later says, after instructing officers to put Melton in a car.
At 10:26, dispatch can be heard on the radio asking where a medic is needed.
“Dude. Now they ask?” an officer notes on scene.
Moments later, officers rush to bring Melton to the hospital. It takes them two minutes.
No official cause of death has been released.
The video can be viewed here.
*Warning*: The footage can be seen as disturbing for some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.