Officers then tied him to a chair, he said, and took him to another cell, where they lowered him on a mattress, facing his stomach.
Officers removed the restraint of his ankle and bent his legs behind his back. He pleaded: “Please,” “I can’t breathe,” “Help me,” and “Let me go,” the report said.
Officers were unable to remove his handcuffs after one key was broken in the keyhole, the other key would not work, and a set of bolt cutters was defective.
Officers used another set of bolt cutters to remove Mr. Neville’s left handcuffs after about 12 minutes in the abdomen, the report said. Mrs. Huyens examines him and the team leaves his cell, Mr. Neville still in his stomach, according to the report.
After Mrs. Hugins did not see him breathing or moving, staff members returned to the cell, took Mr. Neville on his back and began CPR, the report said.
Mr. Neville died on December 4, 2019 at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
An autopsy revealed that he had died of a brain injury due to cardiopulmonary arrest, which was “due to positional and contractile breathing during prone restraint.” The report said Mr Neville had other “significant conditions”, including “severe mood swings” and asthma.
In August 2020, just days before authorities released a video showing Mr Neville’s death, Forsyth County Sheriff Bobby F. Kimbro Jr. apologized to Mr Neville’s family. Mr Kimbro said he cried after watching a video of the encounter and said “it was a mistake that day.” The sheriff’s office said at the time that it had fired five officers.
