Tucson Police Chief Offers To Resign After In-Custody Death

TUCSON, AZ — Tucson Police Chief Christopher Magnus offered to resign Wednesday during a news conference regarding a 27-year-old man who died while handcuffed and in the custody of Tucson Police officers on April 21.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said she did not know Magnus would offer his resignation during the conference, but she believes he's "an honest, great police chief for the city of Tucson."

"I retain the right to think about what he's presented to the public and Mayor and Council today," Romero said.

In the news conference, Magnus said the 27-year-old Carlos Ingram-Lopez died while handcuffed, his body and face covered with blankets on the floor of a garage.

Magnus said the incident began just after 1 a.m. on Tuesday, April 21, when Ingram-Lopez' grandmother called 911 to report the man was "drunk, yelling and running around naked."

Police arrived on scene, and Ingram-Lopez ran into a dark garage where police ordered him to lie on the floor and put him in handcuffs, Magnus said.

In Wednesday's conference, police showed footage taken from one officer's body camera during the arrest. In the video, Ingram-Lopez can be heard repeatedly grunting and yelling, asking for water and, at one point, saying he couldn't breathe.

The news conference and body camera footage can be seen here. (Viewers should note that the footage contains nudity and profanity.)

Magnus said an investigation found officers never struck the man nor blocked his airway with chokeholds or by kneeling on his neck.

About 12 minutes after the incident began, “officers discovered he was unresponsive," Magnus said. Officers, concerned Ingram-Lopez was overdosing on drugs, gave him Narcan and began CPR.

Emergency Medical Services responders then arrived on the scene and administered CPR until Ingram-Lopez was pronounced dead, the chief said.

An investigation was conducted into the death, and "multiple policy violations were identified," Magnus said.

Before the investigation was completed, the three primary officers involved in the arrest submitted their resignations. Magnus said the three officers would have been fired over the policy violations had they not resigned.

The man's autopsy report states the cause of death is acute cocaine intoxication, physical restraint and hypertrophy, or enlargement, in the left ventricular of the heart.

The medical examiner noted the man's manner of death has not been determined.

Magnus said the case was referred to the Pima County District Attorney's office, but no charges have been filed.

Magnus said in response to the death the department has now instituted a policy requiring that body camera footage taken from in-custody deaths be viewed by at least two chiefs within 48 hours.

The department is also taking steps to ensure the public is quickly notified any time a person dies while in police custody. Over a month passed between Ingram-Lopez's death and a public announcement.

Mayor Romero said she's outraged over Ingram-Lopez's death.

"In the videos, we see a person that is clearly distressed, asking for water, asking for help, asking for this Nana," Romero said in the conference. "Now, we must center the conversation on police accountability and transparency."

Amid a public call for "civil, constructive and peaceful dialogue," Romero also said she's proposing policies to increase police transparency, accountability and oversight.

Romero announced three areas of focus moving forward: a requirement for police to immediately notify Mayor & Council of an in-custody death, a pilot Community Safety Division that intervenes with social services instead of police officers and a city code amendment allowing the Community Police Advisory Review Board to look into internal investigations instead of only external complaints.

Romero also called for the Pima County Attorney's office to conduct a "swift and thorough" investigation of Ingram-Lopez's death.

"We are Tusconans united by our shared goal of creating a better, more just community," the mayor said. "We mourn Carlos Adrian Ingram-Lopez. He was a member of our community. We must act to continue the important work of meaningful and fundamental change. We can, and we must, do better."

The death was first announced on Tuesday by Romero, who canceled Tuesday afternoon's city council meeting after seeing video footage of the death.

In a statement, Romero said she felt it was inappropriate to carry on usual businesses matters after the incident.

"I want to assure our community that there will be a thorough and transparent investigation," Romero wrote. "We can and must do better."

The office of Council Member Lane Santa Cruz addressed the death in a statement on Facebook.

"I will not participate in the Mayor & Council meeting today because of the tragedy and death of one of our community members at the hands of Tucson police officers," the statement read. "I do not take my responsibilities as a council member lightly, and I cannot, in good conscience, sit by and conduct business as usual without addressing this tragedy."

Santa Cruz said she will soon move to repeal Ordinance 11746, which restricts people from "physically entering crime scenes or areas immediately surrounding where such enforcement activity, investigations, and other police-related activities are taking place."

The ordinance was intended to cut back on "First Amendment auditing," the practice of filming on public property or around police stations to catch officials violating residents' First Amendment right to film or take photographs on public property.

Tucson's ordinance was met with significant backlash by social media users who believed the ordinance outlawed the filming of police.

Although the ordinance recognizes that "the public has a clear right to free speech and to record police activities that take place in public," Santa Cruz said she thinks moving forward without community input was a mistake.

"Meaningful changes should involve an examination of this incident, the police department's practices in general, and how we can most strategically use our public resources for the greatest good," she said on Facebook.

Council Member Steve Kozachik told KOLD News 13 he agreed with the decision to postpone the meeting "until TPD leadership has had an opportunity to meet with them privately and review the case,” he said. “Inflaming the situation prior to all of the facts being made public, especially given the national conversation related to police activity, is a disservice to everybody involved in this case."

In a release Tuesday evening, Tucson police said three TPD officers involved in the arrest resigned before an investigation into the death could be completed. The officers would have been terminated had they not resigned, police said.

“In this case, three officers did not live up to the high standards of the Tucson Police Department. They are no longer employed here,” TPD chief Christopher Magnus said in a statement. “The vast, vast majority of our officers do their jobs well and responsibly and are rightfully disturbed and dismayed by any statements to the contrary. I continue to have the utmost confidence in the men and women of our police department.”

Patch editor Danny Wicentowski contributed to this report.