DALLAS — New body-worn camera footage shows what led up to the death of a man at a hospital after he was handcuffed by Dallas police and taken in an ambulance.
Police posted a new release saying they were called to help Dallas Fire-Rescue (DFR) with a "combative patient" – identified by police on Jan. 6 as 43-year-old Manuel Najera – at about about 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 3.
Officers were dispatched to the scene in the 5100 block of Cardiff Street, and made it to the scene by 10:08 p.m. Police said DFR and the patient's family member were trying to control him when officers got there.
"Officers were able to place the man into handcuffs with minimal force and he was placed on a stretcher and loaded into a DFR ambulance for transport," police said in the release.
At 10:17 pm, police got into the ambulance along with DFR and Najera, as he was taken to a local hospital for treatment, DPD said.
According to police, Najera went into cardiac arrest at around 10:21 p.m. while he was in the ambulance.
In a video edited by Dallas PD, bodycam video shows an officer get out of the ambulance so DFR could administer life saving measures. DPD said it was releasing the footage in an effort to be transparent.
Najera died at the hospital at 11:19 p.m., police said.
In the news release, police said the Dallas County District Attorney's Office will have an independent investigation. Their Special Investigations Unit is also looking into this case as a death in custody.
The Office of Community Police Oversight was also aware of this incident, police said. The Dallas Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy on Jan. 4. Autopsy and toxicology results are pending, police said.
This case is being documented as number 001772- 2023. No other information is available.
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