Dozens of deaths reveal risks of injecting sedatives into people restrained by police [View all]
https://apnews.com/article/investigation-police-use-of-force-sedation-injections-demetrio-jackson-621909ba7491abc2af8ad2e33ba3415b
Demetrio Jackson was desperate for medical help when the paramedics arrived.
The 43-year-old was surrounded by police who arrested him after responding to a trespassing call in a Wisconsin parking lot. Officers had shocked him with a Taser and pinned him as he pleaded that he couldnt breathe. Now he sat on the ground with hands cuffed behind his back and took in oxygen through a mask.
Then, officers moved Jackson to his side so a medic could inject him with a potent knockout drug.
Its just going to calm you down, an officer assured Jackson. Within minutes, Jacksons heart stopped. He never regained consciousness and died two weeks later.
Jacksons 2021 death illustrates an often-hidden way fatal U.S. police encounters end: not with the firing of an officers gun but with the silent use of a medical syringe.
The practice of giving sedatives to people detained by police has spread quietly across the nation over the last 15 years, built on questionable science and backed by police-aligned experts, an investigation led by The Associated Press has found. Based on thousands of pages of law enforcement and medical records and videos of dozens of incidents, the investigation shows how a strategy intended to reduce violence and save lives has resulted in some avoidable deaths.
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