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Eric H. Liao

Age : 30

Gender : Male

Race : Asian

Date : 09/09/2021

Location : West Lanes Bowling Center, near 72nd Street and Dodge Street

City : Omaha

County : Douglas

State : Nebraska

Agency : Omaha Police Department

Officer(s) :Unknown

Cause of Death : Asphyxiation

Event : Died during police custody following restraint at bowling alley

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 09/09/2021, 30-year-old Eric H. Liao, an autistic man, died after being physically restrained by employees at West Lanes Bowling Center and then handcuffed by Omaha Police Department officers. Liao became unresponsive at the scene, was transported to Methodist Hospital and was pronounced dead.
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At approximately 1:45 p.m., Omaha police were dispatched to West Lanes Bowling Center near 72nd and Dodge streets after a 911 caller reported that an autistic adult man was allegedly “out of control,” biting his caregiver and being held down by bowling-alley staff. Dispatchers could hear yelling in the background of the call.
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When the first Omaha officer arrived, Liao was already on the ground with a bowling-alley employee physically restraining him. Witnesses told police that Liao had been combative and had bitten people before being restrained. Thus, the significant physical restraint began before police arrived rather than being initiated by officers.
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An Omaha officer placed Liao in handcuffs. Police said the officer then noticed that Liao was unresponsive. The officer began CPR, other officers assisted, and Omaha Fire Department personnel subsequently transported Liao to Methodist Hospital. He was pronounced dead that afternoon.
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Omaha police reviewed officers’ body-camera recordings and reported that the footage showed officers did not use physical force to take Liao to the ground and did not participate in holding him down. The police interaction consisted of arriving while an employee was already restraining Liao, handcuffing him and then beginning resuscitation after recognizing that he was unresponsive.
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The death was nevertheless formally treated as an in-custody death because Liao became unresponsive while being apprehended and after an officer had placed him in handcuffs. The Omaha Police Officer-Involved Investigations Team investigated, with the Nebraska State Patrol and Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office assisting.
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Nebraska law also required a grand-jury review because Liao died while in law-enforcement custody or apprehension. His case was subsequently included among 17 Douglas County in-custody deaths reviewed by a grand jury in March 2022.
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The grand jury returned a “No True Bill” in Liao’s case. It determined there was not probable cause to believe that a crime had been committed in connection with his death. Reporting on the grand-jury findings again stated that body-camera footage showed Liao becoming unresponsive when he was handcuffed and indicated that the responding police officers did not use force against him.
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The factual sequence makes this an unusual police-custody case: Liao was already being physically restrained on the floor by a private employee when police arrived; an officer then handcuffed him; officers recognized that he was unresponsive and began CPR. The later grand-jury review produced no criminal indictment.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
The Omaha police officers who responded to West Lanes Bowling Center and the officer who handcuffed Eric Liao were not publicly identified in the reporting located for this update.
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The evidence publicly described in the investigation does not attribute the preceding physical restraint to Omaha police. Police body-camera footage reportedly showed that Liao was already being restrained by a bowling-alley employee when officers arrived and that officers did not use force or hold him down. The grand jury subsequently found no probable cause to believe a crime had been committed in connection with Liao's death.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-police-investigating-in-custody-death-at-bowling-alley/37535800
https://fox42kptm.com/news/local/autistic-man-died-after-being-arrested
https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-omaha-b0db13dadfe2bde50ae6dab0b0b044f5
https://www.3newsnow.com/news/local-news/omaha-police-investigate-in-custody-death
https://kfab.iheart.com/content/2021-09-10-police-in-custody-death-investigation-in-omaha/
https://www.wowt.com/2021/09/10/omaha-police-report-in-custody-death-following-disturbance-call-bowling-alley/
https://www.ketv.com/article/nebraska-grand-jury-no-wrongdoing-omaha-police/39411674
https://www.wowt.com/2022/03/11/douglas-county-grand-jury-returns-no-indictments-17-in-custody-deaths/
https://www.3newsnow.com/news/local-news/douglas-county-district-court-grand-jury-concludes-inquiry-regarding-in-custody-deaths