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Derrick Harrell

Age : 59

Gender : Male

Race : Black

Date : 08/30/2022

Location : Vacant residence near 946 E Reed Street

City : Hayti

County : Premiscot

State : Missouri

Agency : Kennett Police Department

Officer(s) :Not Disclosed

Cause of Death : Medical emergency

Event : Died during violent police with K-9 arrest

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/30/2022, 59-year-old Derrick J. Harrell died after Kennett Police Department officers used a police dog to take him into custody inside a vacant residence. The K-9 bit Harrell severely enough that police summoned an ambulance to transport him to a hospital for treatment. During the approximately 30-mile trip from Kennett to Pemiscot Memorial Hospital in Hayti, police said Harrell suffered an unspecified medical event and died. The Missouri State Highway Patrol subsequently reviewed the arrest.
The encounter occurred late Tuesday evening when Kennett police attempted to arrest Harrell. Police reported that Harrell went into a vacant residence and officers sent a K-9 into the building to take him into custody. The available public accounts do not identify the officers involved, the police dog or the address of the vacant house.
The dog bit Harrell during the arrest. Police then contacted emergency medical personnel. The initial Kennett Police Department statement said EMS "cleared" Harrell for transportation to a hospital for treatment of the dog bite. Another contemporaneous report states more directly that an ambulance transported him to Pemiscot Memorial Hospital in Hayti.
While Harrell was being transported, he experienced what police described only as a "medical event." He died before or during arrival at the hospital. The initial reports did not disclose the nature or severity of the dog-bite injuries, what medical symptoms developed during transportation, whether resuscitation was attempted, or Harrell's ultimate medical cause of death.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol was brought in to review the arrest and Harrell's subsequent death. Despite searching for later reporting and official follow-up, no publicly accessible final Highway Patrol investigative report, autopsy findings, medical examiner determination, prosecutorial review, body-camera release, civil lawsuit or settlement concerning Harrell's death was located. The publicly available record therefore remains unusually thin more than three years after the initial announcement.
The available evidence does establish an important sequence that should not be lost in the original police description of a "medical event": Harrell was alive when Kennett police encountered him; officers used a police K-9 to apprehend him inside the vacant residence; the dog injured him sufficiently that medical treatment was required; Harrell was placed in an ambulance for transportation to a hospital; and he died during that medical transport. The public record located for this update does not establish whether the K-9 injuries, physical stress of the arrest, an underlying medical condition or some combination of factors caused or contributed to his death.

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OFFICER BACKGROUND:
Kennett Police Department has not publicly identified the officers or K-9 handler involved in Harrell's arrest in the records located for this update.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.kfvs12.com/2022/08/31/kennett-man-taken-into-custody-dies-way-hospital/
https://www.kait8.com/2022/08/31/suspect-dies-hospital-after-police-k9-bite/
https://www.kbsi23.com/news/mshp-reviewing-arrest-in-kennett-after-suspect-died-on-way-to-hospital/
https://kwoctodaystalk.squarespace.com/localnews/2022/8/31/thursday-september-1-2022