Fairfax police release body cam video when a 44-year-old man who died in their custody
By: Fairfax County Police released body-cam footage Thursday of their interactions with a 44-year-old man who later died in their custody.
On Nov. 10, FCPD officers were sent to the 6500 block of Amherst Avenue in Springfield, Virginia around 4:18 p.m. for reports of a man having a mental health crisis. When they arrived, they found Temiki Murray, of Lorton, running in and out of traffic, blocking the southbound lanes of Amherst Avenue.
The officer attempted to speak with Murray and guide him onto the sidewalk, but Murray immediately ran back into traffic, police said.
Officers then followed Murray from a distance directing even more officers to his location, they said, specifying that Murray ultimately stopped running in a nearby parking lot.
In the video, officers can be heard talking about a FedEx driver passing by who stopped to try and de-escalate the situation.
"We got a FedEx driver here who's got some good rapport with him," an officer can be heard saying. "I'll wait till another officer gets here."
Officers said they then "waited patiently to intervene," after an officer said he had been chasing him down the street. This is when officers began to talk to Murray again, saying "we're here to help you" and also called Fire and Rescue to respond.
An officer then said into their walkie-talkie from a short distance that Murray appeared in pain and "possibly under the influence of something" as he was "acting erratically."
The officers then put him in handcuffs, telling him to "relax" and saying they smelled weed, asking Murray what he smoked and if anything might have been mixed into it, to which Murray did not respond and continued to breathe heavily as police appear to pat him down while he sits on a curb in the video.
Murray then begins shouting for unknown reasons, as he is out of camera frame in the video, on the ground. He is then shown writhing around on the ground as police tell him to relax, "We're here to help," and appear to be attempting to hold him still.
Police and emergency responders then work to move Murray to a gurney, strap him in and put him in the ambulance, the video shows. Police said that while on the way to a hospital, Murray suffered a medical emergency, at which point "several advanced medical interventions were performed," although he was ultimately pronounced dead upon arrival.
FCPD Chief Kevin Davis originally directed the release of the body camera footage and audio recordings within 30 days, which the Dec. 8 release fell within.
"These police officers did the very best they could to save his life in a very chaotic situation," Davis said during the Dec. 8 press conference. "I think they did a great job."
Davis also confirmed that the toxicology report has not come back yet, although police suspect something may have been in Murray's system at the time of his arrest. He was arrested the day before the Nov. 10 incident for being under the influence of alcohol in public, according to Davis.