John Elliott Neville, 56, of Greensboro, can also be heard telling officers, “Let me go!” and “Help me!” and yelling, “Mom!” during the episode one day after his arrest on December 1. He stopped responding during the incident and later died at a hospital.
The five corrections officers and the nurse who treated Neville before his death have been charged with manslaughter by Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill. They have been relieved of their duty, the sheriff’s office said.
Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough Jr. apologized to the Neville family on Wednesday, following the court order to release the images.
“I want to take this opportunity to say how much I appreciate the class in which you have handled the passing of your father,” said Kimbrough. “I have been with you from the beginning and will continue to be with you.”
CNN has reached out to the district attorney’s office and attorney for Neville’s family.
Fell from an overhead bunk to the ground
Neville was arrested by the Kernersville Police Department on one count of assault on a woman outside of Guilford County, according to the sheriff’s office.
While detained at the Forsyth County Law Enforcement Center, he experienced an unknown medical emergency while sleeping that caused him to fall from his top bunk to the floor, O’Neill said last month during a news conference.
Corrections officers and a nurse were sent to his cell, where they found Neville disoriented and confused, O’Neill said. The decision was made to transfer him to an observation cell to see what was causing his distress. For the next 45 minutes, Neville suffered life-threatening injuries, O’Neill said.
Videos taken from body and handheld cameras inside the detention center on December 2 show at least five officers attending to Neville in his cell where he is on the ground. Officers can be heard in the 45 minute video ask him to stay and inform him that he had just had a seizure.
Neville can be heard yelling, “Wait, let me get up and let me get up,” as the officers pin him to the ground and he struggles with them. Neville yells, “Help me, help me” multiple times and can be heard yelling, “Mom! Mom! Mom!” and various expletives.
An officer can be heard saying to him multiple times, “John, listen to me. You have a medical problem. You need to calm down.” Neville continues to scream and fight saying, “Let me go! Let me go! Move your hands, let me get up! Come on!”
As Neville continues to plead with the officers, he is told to relax and stop resisting. For several minutes, officers are seen attempting to remove the handcuffs from Neville, who is seen lying motionless on the ground with a white bag on his head intended to protect the officers from his saliva. Neville is eventually led out of his cell by officers and down the hall.
As you walk him down the hall, an officer can be heard asking, “John, are you okay, buddy?” Neville responds, “No, help me.” The officer said, “We are helping you. We have medical care here. You have a medical condition, you need to calm down, okay?”
Neville is taken to another room where a nurse checks his blood pressure. The nurse asks Neville if he knows where he is and he says no. The nurse can be heard telling him to “stay relaxed”, and Neville continues to fight and yell, “Help me, someone! Help me, someone!” The nurse tells him that they are helping him and to calm down.
Moments later, Neville is transferred to another cell where he is placed on the ground and immobilized by agents who appear to be trying again to remove the handcuffs. Neville continues screaming, “Help! My dolls! Help me! Help me! I can’t breathe.” An officer tells him: “I hear you. You are talking, you can breathe.”
Neville goes on to say, “Please. I can’t breathe. Let me go! I can’t breathe, let me go. Please.”
An officer responds, “John, relax.”
Neville continues to cry desperately, saying “I can’t breathe” several times.
An officer is heard telling Neville, “You need to calm down. We are trying to remove these handcuffs and you are making it difficult. You are breathing because you are talking, you are yelling and you are moving.” . You need to stop. You need to relax. Stop resisting. The faster you relax, the faster we get out of here, man. “
Officers continue to try to remove Neville’s restraints, who at this point is no longer screaming and appears unresponsive on the ground.
One officer says, “Okay John, we’re almost there. We’re almost there, buddy,” while the others continue to work to remove the handcuffs.
The lawyers of 5 defendants respond
CNN has obtained statements from the attorneys for the five officers charged with manslaughter: Lavette Williams, Antonio Woodley, Edward Roussel, Christopher Stamper and Sarah Poole.
David Freedman, an attorney for Roussel, says his client has spent 30 years in law enforcement.
“The video shows that there was no criminal activity,” Freedman said. “My client was acting consistently in the way that he was trained and was acting under the supervision of the staff healthcare provider. While the events were tragic, the results for Neville were accidental.”
Woodley’s attorney, Niles Gerber, said the situation should not be compared to the George Floyd case.
“My client went out of his way to try to help this man who is clearly having a medical or emotional episode, in my opinion,” Gerber said. “I don’t know what else they were supposed to do … I think there were intermediate circumstances that contributed, including key breakage and bolt cutters not working.”
Williams’ attorney, Karen Gerber, said her client has served 17 to 20 years in jail. The detention officers continued their training, she said.
“And although the death is tragic, they dealt with this situation under adverse circumstances, following the training provided by the agency,” Gerber said. “The equipment they were given broke. The handcuffs broke. All the time they were doing the best they could to help this man.”
JD Byers, an attorney for Stampers, said the video “shows that the officers were doing exactly what they were trained to do. There was no intention of harming Mr. Neville. It is an incredibly sad incident for everyone involved. I am sure that the court of law will determine the case and I hope that people will see the video fairly. “
Terrence Hines, Sarah Poole’s attorney, said the defendants were just trying to do their job.
“His intention and the intention of everyone else was to help Mr. Neville, not harm him,” Hines said. “They were trying to do their job to make sure he wouldn’t hurt them or the nurse who was trying to help him. It was a sad situation that no one wanted to see someone lose their life and honestly they were doing everything they could. I could help. It’s a sad and tragic situation. “
CNN has reached out to the accused nurse’s attorney, Michelle Heughins, and has not returned.
The ‘prone position restriction’ mentioned among the causes of death
Neville stopped responding at some point while officers attempted to remove his handcuffs, according to an investigative report from the Forsyth County Medical Examiner. Medical personnel began cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the emergency department was called.
Upon EMS arrival, Neville’s pupils were dilated and unresponsive, according to the report. He was taken to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, where he died on December 4.
Neville’s cause of death is listed as “complications of hypoxic ischemic brain injury due to cardiopulmonary arrest due to positional and compressional asphyxia during prone immobilization,” according to autopsy report released by medical examiner’s office. . Other major conditions were listed as “acute altered mental status” and asthma. “
CNN’s Kaylene Chassie and Giovanna Van Leeuwen contributed to this report.
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