Video Contradicts Police About Black Man Who Died in Jail Cell After Arrest For Sagging Pants

Ok....so this story is one that I actually think WAY too much force was used. And from the video to the police story it would appear that the police are lying in this case. Either way....responding to an argument then arresting someone for sagging pants and that ending up in his death is really messed up. I can't say all the folks in the video are guilty, but they were warned, according to the girlfriend, not to tase him because of a high blood pressure.

A newly released video – which contradicts police reports – shows a black Louisiana man lying facedown and unresponsive in a jail cell where he died after officers shocked him with a stun gun.

Sheriff’s deputies were called Nov. 26, 2013, to a Port Allen gas station, where 38-year-old Ervin Leon Edwards and his girlfriend were arguing, reported The Advocate.

The couple had calmed down by the time deputies arrived, but they questioned Edwards about his “sagging” pants – which are banned in the city – and then arrested him.

Police said Edwards was combative after he was placed in handcuffs and threatened to kill officers, and an officer threatened to use a stun gun to subdue him.

Edwards’ girlfriend begged officers not to use a stun gun, telling them Edwards suffered from high blood pressure, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed last year by the man’s family.

I don't know what a taser would do to someone with high blood pressure, but I can imagine it would likely induce a heart attack if the conditions were right. He was clearly struggling, but with 6 guys on top of you I think I would be doing the same.

Either way, I think arresting him for sagging pants is complete BS, and the fact he died from that arrest is something this PD should have to heavily answer for, though from the story he apparently had coc aine and PCP in his system which I know accounts for a lot of crazy actions.

Edwards’ cause of death was classified as “undetermined” and officially a result of “acute coc aine and phencyclidine (PCP) intoxication in association with restraint by law enforcement,” according to the autopsy report.

I can't speak to the validity of the story as I don't really know alternet, nor can I say if anything happened that truly justified his arrest other than the sagging pants, which are apparently illegal where he lived.

Source

Video of incident.



ETA: Link to the original story from The Advocate, again, I do not know the validity of this site so I can't speak to any particular leaning they may/may not have.

Source

a reply to: Vasa Croe

The culture that facilitates, condones and apologizes for these atrocities has betrayed everyone.
It will not self-correct.
Illegitimate.........occupiers.
By the time most people realize it? Germany '33. You know how that story ends.

That coroners report is BS...
That was clearly asphyxiation.


He was limp just after the minute mark and they sat on him for an extra minute before they left the room sharpish.



I haven't seen much as undignifying as that entire footage.


RIP.

originally posted by: CharlieSpeirs
That coroners report is BS...
That was clearly asphyxiation.


He was limp just after the minute mark and they sat on him for an extra minute before they left the room sharpish.



I haven't seen much as undignifying as that entire footage.


RIP.

Yes...the entire story is quite disturbing. Seems the video in this case is really the thing that shows what happened versus the officer's story.

The first outrage should be that the man was arrested for saggy pants. Wake the eff up. Keep calling certain types of people thugs, dehumanizing them and watch the apathy continue to rise... that's how sht like this happens.

originally posted by: Kali74
The first outrage should be that the man was arrested for saggy pants. Wake the eff up. Keep calling certain types of people thugs, dehumanizing them and watch the apathy continue to rise... that's how sht like this happens.

I agree on the saggy pants thing. While I am not a fan of that look, it is just that.....a look. However, the guy did test positive for PCP and coc aine which would lead me to believe the report of him being aggravated and resistant.

Seriously, arrested for sagging pant's!

I'm just lost for words. It ain't even a gang thing anymore. Us white skater boys have been sagging since the mid ninties.

Whats the world coming to? My mind has just been blown, well and truly!!!

All because of baggy pants? That's insane! It says at the end of the video that he died as a result of acute coc aine and phencyclidine intoxication in association with restraint by law enforcement. Are they saying he died because of drugs and being restrained? If it was just being treated badly by the cops, the cops should be put away for murder, but if he was also on drugs wouldn't that hurt the case of wrongful death lawsuit? How they treated that man was horrible and inexcusable in any case. Don't cops know when enough is enough?

a reply to: Vasa Croe

I'm disgusted by the amount of police brutality being perpetrated now more than ever.. In this particular situation though I dont necessarily think the police were wrong. Have any of you ever seen a man high on PCP? It can be pretty terrifying. Using a taser sounds pretty textbook in that scenario. Also why was a man with high blood pressure using coc aine? Lots of poor choices made.

When my sons were idiot teenagers they wore the baggy pants thing. I hated it, but I know kids grow out of stupid #. My daughter had pink hair in high school, now she is a housing commissioner.

Why didnt these officers just go out and shut the door, he wasnt going anywhere.

originally posted by: Kali74
The first outrage should be that the man was arrested for saggy pants. Wake the eff up. Keep calling certain types of people thugs, dehumanizing them and watch the apathy continue to rise... that's how sht like this happens.

Yeah, it is against the law (how doest thee continue on this path???) and will result in a fine.

Baggy Pants Law Will Fine Offenders In Louisiana Parish
www.huffingtonpost.com/.../baggy-pants-law-fine-l...

originally posted by: Vasa Croe

originally posted by: Kali74
The first outrage should be that the man was arrested for saggy pants. Wake the eff up. Keep calling certain types of people thugs, dehumanizing them and watch the apathy continue to rise... that's how sht like this happens.

I agree on the saggy pants thing. While I am not a fan of that look, it is just that.....a look. However, the guy did test positive for PCP and coc aine which would lead me to believe the report of him being aggravated and resistant.

If I was the man's family I wouldn't trust that report and would find a competent lawyer that could get another coroner to do a tox screen and autopsy.

The cops are already busted for lying about what happened. One big lie probably backed up by another.

A law against baggy pants needs to be challenged in court as well.

Sagging pants are banned within the city limits? If that is the case, then they must be in short supply of plumbers.

originally posted by: misskat1
When my sons were idiot teenagers they wore the baggy pants thing. I hated it, but I know kids grow out of stupid #.

Well, some hook up a nice women and grow out of it. I started wearing pants that fitted me because of being harassed by my women. But then she left and I went back to wearing pants that were one size to big, rather than 3 sizes like I used too.

But it's kind of irrelevant either way. Making it illegal goes against freedom of speech, imo. It's just disgraceful to make a law that says what a persons fashion sense should be.

originally posted by: misskat1
When my sons were idiot teenagers they wore the baggy pants thing. I hated it, but I know kids grow out of stupid #. My daughter had pink hair in high school, now she is a housing commissioner.

Why didnt these officers just go out and shut the door, he wasnt going anywhere.

Very guilty consciences, judging by the way that they all scarpered from the room. What gets me is the fact that it took ten minutes for someone to go back in again. Perhaps they were getting their collective fairytale straight in their heads.

1) In the title of the thread you used the word "black man". To me that implies a race issue which obviously this is Not.

2) What happened before the part in the video we are shown? Why did multiple officers have to pin him down? We don't know unless we see what happened earlier. This could very well be a case of “acute coc aine and phencyclidine (PCP) intoxication in association with restraint by law enforcement”. I've seen nothing to disprove that.

3) Depending on the locale, and this was in Louisiana, sagging baggy pants are most definitely associated with gangs and general riff-raff and drugs.

There needs to be an independent autopsy and more facts gathered than just this video that shows ONLY a part of what happened.

originally posted by: Vasa Croe “sagging” pants – which are banned in the city

how absurd. sagging pants are a crime? land of the free?

a reply to: InverseLookingGlass

Like boiled frogs..throw one in a boiling pot of water and of course he will freak/jump out but put him in a room temp pot and then turn up the heat..he will not realize and stay in until it's too late.

No frogs were hurt during the typing of this message.

Looks like a murder.

a reply to: AngryCymraeg

Not really. Pretty standard exit strategy when leaving a cell after an altercation. Everybody doesn't run to the door, you leave singularly or in pairs, starting with whomever is on the upper body and working down (in this case...it's really more whomever is furthest from the door leaves first). I don't see anything at all with how they exited.

What I do find curious is the lies by two different officers in their reports afterward. I also find it curious that the OP video (at the source) appears to have almost a full minute of the altercation edited out.

Either way, I would like to know a) why the felt compelled to lie in their reports and b) why they thought that would work when there was a camera on them.