SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake City Police Department released body camera video showing what led to the death of a theft suspect in their custody earlier this month.
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On Aug. 14, a store near 300 West 800 South called police at around 3:15 p.m. to report a man who was trying to steal items inside. The suspect, Nykon Brandon, left the store and was eventually tracked down by officers.
In the body camera video released Friday, the 35-year-old can be seen running away from officers who had ordered him to stop. He then begins to fight with police and attempts to grab an officer's gun before he was tackled to the ground.
Raw body camera video below shows police trying to restrain Nykon Brandon
Despite being taken down, Brandon can be seen continuing to fight and again placing a hand near an officer's gun. Officers can be heard on the video telling Brandon to calm down as he keeps resisting their attempts to restrain him.
Sometime during the altercation Brandon had a medical episode which led to officers giving him multiple doses of Narcan and performing chest compressions.
Brandon was transported the hospital and later died. The cause of his death has not been released.
As with all officer-involved incidents, an outside agency is currently investigating the actions that led to Brandon's death, along with a separate Salt Lake City police Internal Affairs investigation.
“Our police officers come to work every day to protect our community. In the face of great stress, danger, and uncertainty, they are trained to remain professional and show strength and resiliency. We are committed to carefully reviewing the investigative findings in this case. As a forward-thinking department, we will use those findings to evaluate our policies, training, and procedures to continue ensuring we are making our city safer," said Salt Lake City police chief Mike Brown in a statement.
More than a year later, in March 2024, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill declined to file charges against the officers involved, saying Brandon died of "sudden cardiopulmonary arrest during physical struggle with prone restraint in the setting of obesity and methamphetamine toxicity."
Through an investigation, the District Attorney found the incident did not fall within the category of an officer-involved critical incident as Brandon was not in custody when he experienced the fatal medical episode.
"We do not believe it is in the interest of justice to file a criminal charge against any officers in this matter because we do not see anything in the officers' actions that rises to a level of criminality," a press release from Gill reads in part. "Accordingly, we decline to file criminal charges against the officers in this case."
