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Powerful sedatives and in-custody deaths

At least six people in San Diego County who died in custody were injected with powerful sedatives during police altercations.

Dorian Hargrove, Katy Stegall

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Published: 11:58 AM PDT April 26, 2024
Updated: 5:48 PM PDT May 7, 2024

Warning: The video featured in this story could be found disturbing by some audiences.

The shrieks and full-throated screams coming from inside Wesley Garrett-Henry's room were unsettling as if Garrett-Henry was possessed. The screams echoed through the hallway of the downtown San Diego residential motel where Garrett-Henry lived.

Garrett-Henry's neighbor said that they thought Garrett-Henry had used drugs that day, the first time in what they said was after years of sobriety.

Just before midnight, neighbors heard the screams and called 911.

San Diego Police officers arrived at 11:51 to Henry-Garrett's room. Footage from the officer's body-worn cameras which was obtained by the Associated Press through public records requests, captures the medical distress that the typically healthy Garrett-Henry was experiencing inside. 

"Who is this..." yelled Garrett-Henry after screaming obscenities from inside his room as officers stood outside the door. 

Seconds later, Garrett-Henry exits his room rapidly, disheveled. 

One of the officers told medics that the scene was clear while describing Garrett-Henry in a state of "excited delirium."

Soon, the 32-year-old flails on the ground. He kicks at the wall and squirms on his back as his hands are cuffed underneath.

To control him, the officers flip Garrett-Henry onto his stomach, also known as the prone position. The officers placed their weight on him and asked him to remain calm.

The officers pressed on Garrett-Henry's shoulder and legs for approximately 15 minutes as they waited for medics to arrive. 

At 12:10 am, less than 20 minutes after police officers arrive, body cam footage shows a medic quickly run into the camera frame.

The medics asked if the officers needed Versed, also known as Midazolam, a powerful sedative used in hospitals to allow patients to relax before surgery. 

Within seconds a medic quickly injected the sedative into Garrett-Henry's left bicep.

Less than ten minutes later, 32-year-old Wesley Garrett-Henry was dead.

An in-depth investigation by the Associated Press and Frontline PBS examined over 1,000 cases of in-custody police deaths where guns were not used and found that more than 10 percent involved the use of powerful sedatives on the subjects in police care.

According to its investigation, the Associated Press found that California had one of the highest number of restraint deaths where sedatives were used in the country.

CBS 8's own investigation discovered that in San Diego County, six people of the 16 in-custody deaths since 2013 where guns were not used had been injected with Midazolam while in custody or while being held in a prone position or placed into police restraints.

While only a few medical examiners found that hospital-grade sedatives such as Midazolam and Ketamine played a part in a person's death, Elijah McClain being one of those, medical professionals have not found, or studied, a direct connection between sedatives and in-custody deaths.

The Associated Press investigation shows that medical experts are growing more concerned about the use of sedatives in those who are in extremely agitated and combative states or those high on methamphetamines and other drugs. 

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