A North Carolina man who died about an hour after police repeatedly used a Taser on him had told officers that he had heart problems before he lost consciousness, according to footage of police surveillance and body cameras. Darryl Tyree Williams, 32, died on Jan. 17 after he fled an arrest for alleged drug possession and was stunned at least three times by Raleigh police officers. Six officers have been placed on administrative leave amid an internal investigation and a separate inquiry from the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation, the Washington Post reports. Police on Friday released a roughly 12-minute edited compilation of footage, which included text from authorities describing the fatal incident but not a cause of death.
The edited footage of body cameras, dashboard cameras and surveillance video was released more than three weeks after the death of Williams, who was Black, and two days after a judge authorized its release. Williams’s family viewed the footage before it was released. The release of the footage caused Williams’s family and activists to demand accountability for a death they say was caused by racial profiling and violent use of force at a time when there have been several high-profile police killings of Black men to start the year. After officers used a Taser on Williams during the arrest, he is heard telling police that he was concerned about what the repeated use of the Taser could mean for his heart. A preliminary report released by police on Jan. 23 explained how Raleigh officers were conducting “proactive patrols” of areas that authorities say have “a history of repeat calls for service for drugs, weapons, and other criminal violations.” Sonya Williams, the man’s mother, said Raleigh police racially profiled her son and “didn’t respect him at all as a human being.”