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Nykon Brandon

Age : 35

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 08/14/2022

Location : 320 W 800 Street

City : Salt Lake City

County : Salt Lake

State : Utah

Agency : Salt Lake City Police Department

Officer(s) :Dalton Beebe; Rakim Redmon; Marika Ascarte; Officer "U82" (pseudonym used in court records)

Cause of Death : Asphyxiation

Event : Asphyxiated by police during mental health crisis

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 08/14/2022, Salt Lake City Police Department officers responded to Fisher Brewing near 356 West 700 South after employees reported that a man was behaving erratically, attempting to take beer from customers, running into traffic, and appeared to be experiencing a mental health crisis. When officers arrived, they encountered 35-year-old Nykon Brandon wearing only socks and underwear and attempted to detain him.
Brandon struggled with officers as they attempted to restrain him. Body-camera video released by the Salt Lake City Police Department showed multiple officers taking Brandon to the ground, handcuffing him, and continuing to hold him face down in a prone position while applying body weight to his back, neck, head, and legs for several minutes after he had been handcuffed. During the restraint, Brandon repeatedly appeared to have difficulty breathing. Officers later noticed he had become unresponsive, began CPR, and he was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
The Salt Lake City Police Department released body-camera recordings from multiple officers under the city's critical incident ordinance. The incident generated public criticism from civil rights advocates, who argued that the prolonged prone restraint shown on the recordings contributed to Brandon's death. The department referred the case for an outside officer-involved critical incident investigation, and its Internal Affairs Unit opened a separate administrative review.
In August 2024, Brandon's family filed a federal wrongful-death and civil rights lawsuit against Officers Dalton Beebe, Rakim Redmon, Marika Ascarte, an officer identified in court records as "U82," Salt Lake City, and other defendants. The complaint alleges officers continued applying body weight to Brandon's back, neck, head, and legs for more than two minutes after he had been handcuffed and subdued, causing positional asphyxia and wrongful death.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qOfoRyw1cY
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2022/08/28/salt-lake-police-release-body-camera-footage-fatal-encounter-nykon-brandon/6301661714339/
https://nypost.com/2022/08/28/salt-lake-city-pd-release-footage-of-death-of-restrained-man/
https://www.slcpd.com/2022/08/26/body-worn-camera-footage-released-from-officer-involved-critical-incident/
https://www.ksl.com/article/news/utah/following-death-of-man-restrained-by-police-body-cam-footage-released/51562247