Citizen Who Held Down Burglary Suspect Won't Face Charges In Man's Asphyxiation Death

LOS ANGELES, CA — A man who tackled and held down a burglary suspect who then died of asphyxiation in a Westlake parking lot won't face charges for the man's death, the Los Angeles Police Department announced Friday.

Police released security footage of the July 6 incident, which included the final moments of 47-year-old Anthony Sowell's life. The “Critical Incident Video” shows the end of a foot chase in which a community member tackles Sowell and lays on top of him. Sowell struggles wildly, his movements growing weaker and weaker until he stops moving all together. By the time officers arrive on scene, Sowell is unconscious.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner later determined that Sowell died of traumatic asphyxiation. Police referred an attempted murder case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, which declined to file charges, said LAPD Capt. Alex Chogyoji. The case was ruled a justifiable homicide.

According to the LAPD, the incident began with a 'hot prowl' burglary at an apartment on South Rampart Boulevard.

A man call 911 and explained in Spanish that his wife called him to say a man had broken into their apartment on South Rampart Boulevard, and she fled outside but didn't know where her children, ages 7 and 12, had hid.

"I'm on my way home from work. She called me really scared," the man told the 911 dispatcher. "She doesn't know where the kids hid at since the man came in acting crazy, she said."

Moments later his wife called 911.

"Somebody broke into my apartment, " she said in Spanish. "It looks like he is on drugs, and my kids are inside. Right now he just exited my house. And someone caught him right here....Someone is holding him down, but..."

The video goes shows officers arriving about five minutes after Sowell was taken down. The officers handcuff his prone body, and believing he was suffering a drug overdose, they administered Narcan. Lastly, they attempted to give him CPR to no avail.

Sowell died on the ground in an alley behind what appears to be a pizza parlor at 3:40 p.m. July 6.

The graphic LAPD Critical Incident Video can be viewed here.