PALMETTO, Fla. — The Palmetto Police Department released body cam and dashcam footage following an in-custody death in November.
This comes after the department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State's Attorney's office said the officers did not contribute to Breonte Johnson-Davis' death.
Family members were very upset after hearing the officers were not going to face any consequences following Breonte’s death. His mom, Tracey Washington, said she’s been fighting for justice since he died and she’s still fighting.
Palmetto police got a call about a disturbance at a convenience store back in November.
The department says Johnson-Davis already left when they arrived. He approached them outside.
Video shows more officers arriving as they try to detain him. Police say they tased him twice which is within their protocol.
"The officers are using minimal force, they were mainly trying to wrestle with him to give his arms up to get him handcuffed when he would not comply when he would not comply we applied a taser," Palmetto Police Chief Scott Tyler said.
In the video, Johnson-Davis is heard screaming out saying he needs help. Officers continued to ask him about drug use but he never answers.
Once paramedics arrived on scene, Johnson-Davis suffered a medical episode. They tried lifesaving measures, but based on the video it’s unclear if he was conscious when he was put in an ambulance. Authorities say he died at the hospital the next day.
Chief Scott said he didn’t think that it was necessary to put the officers on administrative leave based on the bodycam footage. He also said they are are small department, mentioning there were 5 officers on the scene and there’s 34 in his department.
"I can’t express the pain that I'm going through everyday with this," Washington said. "I know that the tasing contributed to my son’s death."
The medical examiner report says Johnson-Davis died due to complications with a possible overdose.
FDLE and the State's Attorney's Office say the officers acted reasonably.
Family believe surveillance video shows he was beaten, but police said they never punched him.
"When you look at it you’re going to see this rhythmic strobe effect of lights off the car," Tyler said.
"No matter how many drugs, what addiction he had he did not deserve to die," Washington said. "How can you sleep with yourself at night? Don’t let it knock on your door before you want to do something about it."
The family said they are going to do their own investigation and are calling on the Department of Justice to get involved as well.
They also plan on attending the next Manatee County Commissioner’s meeting to discuss ways on how to prevent this from happening to someone else.