The Sheriff's Department has released a detailed account of an in-custody death Friday Oct. 11, when deputies confronted a man who appeared to lose control of himself at a Burger King in Moreno Valley.
The man was in his car in the drive-thru and deputies used pepper spray, a taser, and a baton during their efforts to take him into custody, according to Lt. Joseph Borja and Chief Deputy Patty Knudson of the Central Homicide Unit.
The pepper spray, taser and baton were ineffective and eventually several deputies overpowered the man to get him out of his vehicle, according to the Sheriff's Department.
Raymond Lewis Johnson, 41, of Moreno Valley, apparently stopped breathing while he was hand-cuffed and he was pronounced deceased at 7:19 p.m. Oct. 11 at Riverside County Regional Medical Center, Borja and Knudson said.
Investigators are seeking witnesses who were at the Burger King and may have seen what happened.
Here's the Sheriff's Department narrative of what occurred:
The incident began on October 11, 2013, at 5:56 P.M., when officers from the Moreno Valley Police Department responded to several reports of an adult male sitting inside of a vehicle.
The subject was seen violently kicking his feet and striking his fists in an uncontrollable manner, causing concern to the subjects who reported the incident.
The vehicle was parked blocking the drive-thru at a Burger King restaurant, located near the 23000 block of Hemlock Avenue, in the city of Moreno Valley.
An officer arrived on scene within minutes and located forty-one year old, Moreno Valley resident, Raymond Lewis Johnson, sitting in his vehicle.
Johnson is a muscular male adult, weighing two-hundred sixteen pounds, and six foot three inches tall.
Due to Johnson's physical size and agitated state, the officer requested additional officers to respond.
While waiting for the additional officers, the initial officer attempted to communicate with Johnson, asking him if he needed medical attention. Johnson was unresponsive to the officer’s questions.
Johnson began kicking both legs against the interior of his vehicle.
Based on Johnson's actions, behavior and unresponsiveness, the officer believed he was possibly under the influence of alcohol, narcotics or both, and a danger to the public if he was allowed to drive away.
The officer then asked Johnson to exit the vehicle several times. Johnson acted as if he was unaware of the officer's presence.
Johnson attempted to start his vehicle several times, but the vehicle failed to start.
At this point, the officer was afraid Johnson would try to drive away if his vehicle started and decided he had to remove Johnson from the vehicle for the public's safety.
Due to Johnson's size, his continued violent actions, and the need to remove him from his vehicle before he drove away, the officer deployed his department issued Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) spray to the face area of Johnson.
Johnson coughed for a second and began pulling on the steering wheel, and again attempted to start the vehicle.
After the officer determined the OC spray was ineffective, he un-holstered his department energy conducted weapons system (X26 Taser), pointed it towards Johnson, and ordered him to exit his vehicle.
He advised Johnson if he did not exit the vehicle, the taser would be used.
After Johnson refused to exit the vehicle, the officer deployed the taser; however, it too was ineffective.
The officer further tried to utilize the taser by directly contacting Johnson's thigh twice, which also had no effect. While the officer attempted to deploy the taser, Johnson grabbed the officer's hand, attempting to thwart any further deployment.
While Johnson continued to resist the officer's attempt to remove him from the vehicle, Johnson tried to make his way towards the rear of the vehicle.
The officer was able to stop Johnson from moving to the rear of his vehicle by holding him against the pillar of the vehicle.
Additional officers arrived on scene, positioning themselves at both front doors of the vehicle ordering Johnson out of the vehicle.
Johnson continued to remain uncooperative and began to hold on to the under carriage of the passenger seat, concealing his hands from the officers' view.
This created great concern to the officers, because they did not know if he had any weapons in the vehicle.
In an attempt to distract Johnson and loosen his grip so he could be removed from the vehicle, one officer employed his department issued Rapid Containment Baton (RCB) and deployed several strikes to Johnson’s right and left upper thighs.
The baton was not extended at time of deployment to minimize injury.
The deployment of the baton was ineffective and another officer kicked Johnson in his shoulder area to loosen Johnson's grip.
A combination of all the officers' efforts to remove Johnson from the vehicle eventually prevailed. During the struggle with Johnson, and before he was taken into custody, one of the officers requested an ambulance to respond.
Johnson was handcuffed and placed on the ground.
While Johnson lay on the ground, one of the officers noticed Johnson had stopped breathing.
Officers immediately began C.P.R and Johnson was transported to a nearby hospital.
On October 15, 2013 an autopsy was conducted on Mr. Johnson by the Riverside County Sheriff’s / Coroner's Office.
The preliminary findings determined that Mr. Johnson had a significantly enlarged heart for a male adult his age.
Mr. Johnson had abrasions consistent with being involved in a struggle, none of his injuries were life-threatening. Positional asphyxia was ruled out and a toxicology report is pending.
It is important to remember we are in the preliminary stages of this investigation and we are still requesting the public's assistance.
Anyone with more info was urged to call Investigator Campos of the Central Homicide Unit at (951) 955-2777, or Investigator Lenton of the Moreno Valley Police Department at (951) 486-6700.
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