Body camera footage: ‘I can’t breathe’
Family had contacted authorities to warn of son’s mental illness
PLEASANTON >> Police body camera video released amid a wrongful-death lawsuit shows for the first time that a mentally ill man being restrained by Pleasanton police officers in a 2018 incident complained repeatedly that he could not breathe. But police brushed aside his complaints, and the man later died.
The police body camera video shows officers debating how to restrain the 38-year-old. A coroner ruled that he died of “acute methamphetamine toxicity” but noted that he suffered “probably mechanical asphyxia” from the restraint device police used, known as a wrap.
But Bauer’s parents said they had contacted police multiple times before the incident to warn them of Bauer’s mental illness and plead for care and mercy if police encountered him. They filed a federal suit in 2019 and have placed his death in the context of several other deaths in the Bay Area involving a person with mental illness who died either during or after a struggle with police.
In an interview with the Bay Area News Group, attorney Gary Gwilliam, who is representing Bauer’s family, called the case “more egregious” than the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, who died after an officer placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for several minutes, ignoring his complaints that he couldn’t breathe and prompting coast-to-coast protests for days on end. Four Minneapolis police officers were charged in Floyd’s death.
“They had as many as eight officers leaning on (Bauer),” Gwilliam said. “Jacob Bauer was an entirely innocent man. He was nothing more than a mentally ill man that needed help, and instead of giving him help, they killed him.”
But in court records, attorneys for the city of Pleasanton have described Bauer as a vandalism suspect who was being detained after exhibiting “bizarre” behavior during an interaction with police. They’ve pointed to the official findings attributing Bauer’s death to methamphetamine use — though the two sides disagree on whether the amount of meth in Bauer’s blood was enough to be fatal — and the fact that the involved officers were cleared by county prosecutors.
“The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office found that officers used objectively reasonable force to overcome (Bauer’s) intense resistance to their lawful attempt to detain him,” attorneys for the city wrote in an answer to the civil complaint. “In addition, the ACDAO did not find any evidence that the officers were criminally negligent.”
In 2019, Hayward police paid $1 million to settle a lawsuit with the family of a man who became unconscious while being placed in a restraining wrap and later died. Last year, Antioch police agreed to pay $475,000 to settle a similar suit stemming from a 2015 fatality.
The story of Bauer’s death begins several weeks before the incident, when his parents contacted Pleasanton police to warn them that his mental illness was getting more severe. They met with police on four occasions to voice those concerns because they were afraid if police encountered him it would turn fatal.
Their final meeting with police occurred three days before Bauer’s death, according to the lawsuit, which names Officers Bradlee Middleton, Jonathan Chin, Richard Trovao, Steven Bennett, Alex Koumiss, Jason Knight and Marty Billdt as defendants.
On Aug. 1, 2018, Bauer went to a supermarket a short distance from his home. He drank two bottles of soda without paying for them, placed them on the ground and left the store, according to Bauer’s family. Attorneys for the city of Pleasanton wrote in court filings that Bauer was observed slamming a shopping cart to the ground and ranting, and that the manager called police to report he was “acting deranged.”
When Chin and Middleton caught up with Bauer, they had a brief conversation before Bauer began staring straight ahead and ignoring the officers. That’s when they decided to detain him. The body camera footage shows the officers struggling to handcuff Bauer as he screams for help.
More officers arrive on the scene and use a stun gun on Bauer multiple times. After one officer puts what appears to be a spit mask over Bauer’s face, Bauer yells that he can’t breathe.
“Calm down, man,” the officer replies.
“I can’t breathe,” Bauer says again, gasping.
“No, you can breathe, that’s why you’re yelling still, OK?” the officer replies.
Bauer went unconscious a short time later. When paramedics arrived at the scene, they gave him a sedative but then were denied access to him for eight minutes, according to the coroner’s report. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful, and he was declared dead after arriving at a nearby hospital.
In a video statement obtained by the Bay Area News Group, Jacob Bauer’s mom, Rose Bauer, said her son died at the hands of “killers who hide behind badges.”
“Rather than de-escalate the encounter, several more officers arrived on scene,” Rose Bauer said. “They stomped on him, hit Jacob with their batons and their fists, applying pressure on his neck and back.”
Attorneys on both sides have had several recent meetings where they negotiated the terms of a possible settlement, according to court records, though nothing has been finalized.