A shoplifting suspect who died in Indianapolis police custody had been forced to lie on his back for almost 40 minutes after he was cuffed with his hands behind him, leaving the overweight, exhausted teen unable to breathe properly, a lawyer for his family said Thursday.
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Terrell Day, 18, died of heart failure last Saturday afternoon while handcuffed on the city’s eastside. They offered condolences to his family.
An researching is in progress after an 18-year-old alleged shoplifter suffered a critical cardiac event in police custody after moaning with having complication respiratory. Police said they found Day near a handgun in a grassy area behind a nearby gas station. “We’re trying to determine exactly what occurred. If there was a violation of the criminal code, then the family would want accountability”.
The Department of Public Safety later issued a statement that read, “Day complained of problems breathing and an ambulance was requested”. A second ambulance arrived, and was in the process of transporting the teen to the hospital.
The raw footage was played during a press conference on Thursday, days after Day died in the back of an ambulance.
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The chief of Indianapolis EMS says that he has launched an internal investigation but believes that Day received proper medical care.
