Little Rock police have released more details on the death of a 37-year-old man held down by police officers on Thursday, including his name and the identities of the officers involved.
Police on Friday said Stephen Collins, who lived with his mother in the 1200 block of North Tyler Street, stopped breathing in an ambulance on the way to a hospital.
Three officers responded to a disturbance at a home shortly after 4 p.m. Thursday, according to a report released Friday by the Little Rock Police Department.
It marked the 86th time since January that police had responded to the home where Collins lived, Little Rock police spokesman Steve Moore said.
Loud yelling could be heard from inside the house, the report said. Inside, a man later identified as Collins, appeared to be under the influence of drugs and was upstairs behaving erratically, according to police. Collins was said to be holding a pill bottle and sweating profusely. His 74-year-old mother was also present.
Police coaxed Collins downstairs, where he continued to act strangely and was believed to be having an episode of delirium.
Recognizing that he needed medical attention, officers called a Metropolitan Emergency Medical Services ambulance to transport Collins to a hospital, the report states.
"We could tell there was something wrong with him," police spokesman Lt. Michael Ford told a reporter at the scene Thursday, noting that Collins was not combative.
Then Collins suddenly ran out the back door, police said. Fearing for Collins' safety, officers ran after him and found him in an alley behind the house.
Collins kept trying to flee, so officers chose to restrain him until he could be given medical attention, police said. Officers placed him on the ground and put him in handcuffs to keep him secure as he resisted their efforts, according to the report.
Collins was alert and breathing when the ambulance arrived, but once he was placed in the back of the vehicle his condition deteriorated, according to the report. Ford initially told a reporter that the alleyway where Collins was detained was where he stopped breathing.
Officers took turns performing CPR while medics tried to stabilize the man. Collins was later pronounced dead at the emergency room at CHI St. Vincent.
Collins' body has been transported to the state medical examiner to determine the cause of death, police said.
The three officers who responded to the call and are now on leave are Nicholas Kinsey, 32; Desiadro Pullie, 25; and Richard Baxter, 37.
Kinsey was hired in June of 2010, while Pullie and Baxter were hired in November of 2017.
The report, which classifies the incident as a use of force, does not provide details on how Collins was restrained or specify whether all three officers were holding him down.
The Police Department is conducting a criminal and internal investigation, Moore said in a news release. When completed, the criminal file will be sent to the prosecuting attorney's office for a review to determine whether any criminal charges would be filed, the release states.
Metro on 09/01/2018