A 35-year-old man died in police custody while he was being taken to a mental health hospital, police officials said Saturday.
Dallas police released body-camera footage of the interaction with the man, Steven Keith Jarrell Jr., and his mother before his death.
His mother told police that Jarrell was schizophrenic. She can be heard on the video telling her son that he was getting help and that he would be fine.
Around 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 1, Jarrell's mother called police for help as she needed him transported to Medical City Green Oaks Hospital, officials said.
The hospital is a Dallas-based facility that helps with inpatient psychiatric care. Jarrell's mother said her son was schizophrenic and was acting confused after missing doses of his prescribed medication.
When police arrived at the house, they evaluated Jarrell and said he was in "an altered mental state."
Body camera footage showed officers help Jarrell walk from the kitchen to a bedroom to get fully dressed before transporting him.
In the video, Jarrell's mother told officers her son hadn't been violent since 2010 and that he usually goes to Green Oaks when he has a mental illness episode.
In the police camera footage, Jarrell can be heard groaning as the handcuffs were being placed on him.
"They have to do that for you to get into the police car. It's for your protection and theirs," his mother told him. "They're taking you to Green Oaks and you'll be fine."
Officials said Jarrell was medically cleared on the scene by Dallas Fire-Rescue and was transported by police to the hospital.
But police body camera footage showed the 35-year-old struggling to stand as officers tried putting him in the back of the vehicle.
Once in the back of the car, Jarrell's mother said bye to him, "I love you." He was heard saying, "I can't breathe," in response.
But his mother turned to officers and said, "He could breathe."
In the body camera footage, Jarrell continues to say he can't breathe, at one point officers told him they would crack open the window for him.
"Do you want me to sit back there with him?" an officer asked the other. But the officer responded no, the video revealed.
At one point in the video, during the drive to the hospital, Jarrell is no longer heard talking but can still be heard groaning occasionally.
One of the officers asked the man if the air felt OK, but Jarrell did not answer, in the footage provided by police.
Dallas police Maj. Danny Williams said once the officers arrived at the hospital, they noticed Jarrell was unconscious in the back seat of the squad car.
"Hey, Steven!" an officer yelled as he realized Jarrell wasn't breathing anymore.
Body-camera footage showed officers pull the man out of the vehicle, put him on his side, and request an ambulance. One of the officers in the video said Jarrell had fluids coming out of his nose.
Medics transported Jarrell to the emergency room, but he was later pronounced dead.
"This is the sixth in-custody death this year involving Dallas police officers," Williams said in a video.
According to Dallas police officials, detectives met with Jarrell's family to view the video before releasing it to the public. The Special Investigations Unit is investigating the incident.
Below is body camera footage released by Dallas police of the moments leading up to Jarrell's in-custody death.
