PALMETTO, Fla. — A Manatee County family said they are still fighting for justice after Breonte Johnson Davis died while in custody of the Palmetto Police Department.
This week, 10 Tampa Bay told you officers were cleared of wrongdoing in Davis’ death.
His mother Tracey Washington said it feels like putting salt on a wound.
“You killed my baby, and you laugh about it. How can you sleep with yourself at night,” Washington said.
Palmetto Police Department responded to a disturbance call back in November. Davis was tased twice while police were detaining him. Several minutes later he suffered from a medical episode. Police said he died at the hospital the next day. The medical examiner's report said Davis died due to complications with a possible overdose.
Davis' family says this was preventable. They're now doing their own investigation into the death, but they're also working to make sure other families don't have to experience the pain they're feeling right now.
“The way to do that is to put in place call programs like the one St. Pete has. Where if there is a call with someone having a mental health crisis, someone on drugs or disorderly conduct, mental health professionals are the ones that answer those calls,” said Ruth Beltran, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
The St. Pete Police Department (SPPD) launched its city-funded Community Assistance and Life Liaison a few years ago.
“We get about 2,000 officer referrals a year as well so they stay quite busy with the balance of the live calls and then the officer referrals,” Megan McGee with SPPD said.
Human service professionals respond with officers to certain calls like mental illness.
“We're able to offer a response to people in crisis in a way that is trauma-informed and also the commitment to have additional follow-up with people to get them to a point of being stable,” McGee said.
At the Palmetto Police Department, their officers handle all calls themselves.
“We do provide Crisis Intervention Training courses, there are serval different courses we use, there's a 24 hour course there's a 40 hour course,” Palmetto Police Chief Scott Tyler said.
On Monday, Davis' family will ask the Palmetto City Council to put in place a plan to have mental health counselors to respond to cases like this one.