Photos: Justice For Samuel Celestin
(March 3, 2022) — Campaign Zero (CZ), a research-driven, activist-led organization focused on ending police violence in America, today released a video compilation of body camera footage recorded on April 11, 2019, showing the Florida Ocoee police killing Jean Samuel “Sammy” Celestin, who was suffering from a mental health crisis.
The footage shows the officers repeatedly tasing him, holding him at gunpoint, inhumanely hogtying him and refusing to properly administer CPR when Samuel stopped breathing. The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide due to “sudden cardiorespiratory arrest during law enforcement subdual and restraint.”
Despite the graphic and horrifying body camera footage, the officers were never charged by then State Attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court Aramis Ayala, and current State Attorney Monique Worrell has not reviewed the footage and refuses to re-open the investigation into Samuel’s death.
Samuel Celestin, who was diagnosed with Schizophrenia, Paranoia, Anxiety, and Bipolar disorder, needed assistance during a mental health crisis where he became disoriented and unaware of his surroundings. His sister Joanne Celestin called 911 in hopes that a special intervention team would be deployed to appropriately help Sammy, as they had done in the past.
Instead, the police were dispatched. Body camera footage shows Joanne informing officers of the situation upon their arrival and telling them more than once that Sammy had been “Baker Acted” before, referencing Florida’s Baker Act, which allows for involuntary mental health services to be provided to someone in crisis.
“The body camera footage makes clear that when police began talking to Samuel, he was paranoid and not well,” said Campaign Zero Executive Director DeRay Mckesson. “Instead of deescalating the situation, the officers were condescending toward Samuel and treated him like a criminal instead of a man suffering a mental health crisis, inconsiderate of how persistent threats and weapons would affect a person in his mental state.”
After forcing their way into the Celestin home, Samuel was tased and held at gunpoint, prompting Sammy to run out the front door. The officers then tased Samuel again, who dropped to the ground face-first on his front porch. Samuel repeatedly yelled, “I’ll stop! I’m sorry! Arrest me!”
But even though Samuel was immobile and sitting on the ground with his hands up in the air, an officer still shouted “You are about to get shot!”
Terrified, Samuel ran away from the officers to seek safety. The officers then tased Samuel again and tackled him to the ground in a yard across the street from his home. Samuel endured 62 agonizing seconds of tasing, most of which happened while he was lying face down in the grass and restrained by 5 police officers.
After 8 tases, the officers used a hobble to hogtie Samuel, a dangerous practice that can be fatal and has been banned by many police departments including the Los Angeles Police Department, the New York Police Department, the Philadelphia Police Department, the Dallas Police Department, and many more.
Hobble restraints are infamous for causing death by positional asphyxia, and the U.S. Department of Justice recommends officers not use them. Officers are required to turn a hogtied person on their back immediately and then monitor the person carefully to assess if they need medical assistance. The officers did neither for Sammy.
The body camera video shows Samuel dying as he laid hogtied in the grass on his stomach for 55 seconds. As Samuel asphyxiated and stopped breathing, the officers can be heard discussing their scuffed knees.
It was not until Sammy was not breathing and without a pulse that the officers even checked to see if he was alright. The officers began CPR off-camera but left him hogtied for 5 more minutes, making the CPR efforts up to that point ineffectual. The officers never used face shields in order to provide mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and off-camera, one officer can be heard stating that Samuel’s airway was blocked. But none of the officers cleared it.
The officers recounted the events to each other but repeatedly lied about what actually happened, stating that Samuel had “lunged” at them with a knife and “attacked” them. While Samuel was holding a knife when he answered the door, along with a TV remote, garage door opener, and keys, the body camera footage clearly shows he did not lunge at or attack any of the officers and never used any item in a threatening manner or as a weapon. Furthermore, gathering several miscellaneous items is characteristic of the paranoia he was experiencing.
Paramedics eventually arrived and properly performed CPR but were unsuccessful. The officers watched while commenting how “pissed off” they were at Samuel and called him derogatory names.
Samuel Celestin died at 33 years old.
Watch the video here. For more information and ways to help get justice for Samuel Celestin, click here.
For more information, please visit www.JoinCampaignZero.org.
