CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A Corpus Christi-area DPS Trooper's dash cam video shows him heading to the intersection of Leopard Street and McKinzie Road during the early morning hours of Oct. 21, 2015.
Corpus Christi Police Department officers were already trying to get 36-year-old Mario Pedigone under control.
He’d called 911, saying he’d swallowed poison, and first responders reports said they found him wandering in the street.
He ended up being Tased twice before officers handcuffed him.
After a short time, the Trooper's report states he noticed Pedigone was not talking or yelling anymore.
It was then they realized he wasn't breathing.
Fire department personnel on the scene began to start CPR but the man was declared dead minutes later at the hospital.
"The solution is: Get them down, get them handcuffed as quickly as possible, and get them up into a position where you are not going to have a problem with asphyxiation,” said Corpus Christi defense attorney Chris Gale.
A comprehensive look at in-custody deaths
The Associated Press released the latest installment in its series called Lethal Restraint, which takes an in-depth look at police use of force, and in-custody deaths over the past decade from all across the country.
The first installment examines why more than 1,000 people died after being handcuffed. The AP said half of those cases were due to how police mishandled the suspect.
During its investigation, four of those cases were uncovered in Corpus Christi -- Pedigone's, along with those of Troy Stewart in 2012, Gerardo Contreras in 2018 and Derrick Miller, also in 2018.
The ninth anniversary of Pedigone's death is this month.
Gale is a well known local lawyer who has represented families suing local law-enforcement agencies for wrongful, in-custody deaths.
"The majority of cases that I have seen where it's really been a concern is, either one: Officers are not geared toward Rule One, which is 'get 'em handcuffed,' he said. "They’re just concerned with keeping them on the ground until they completely are docile, and so if you’re not trying to get them handcuffed, then there is a problem with that.”
Local training techniques
Veteran CCPD Sr. Ofc. Sam Mitchell is the defensive tactics coordinator and works with cadets on how to properly handcuff someone when they’re not having to battle with a combative suspect. Mitchell said he teaches officers to try and get suspects up off the ground as quickly as possible.
"Our officers are trained to make sure we're listening, we're hurrying up and getting them into the recovery position," he said. "We don’t want them on their face for a long period. It’s just a moment in time. That’s all that is. Our officers are always trained to watch, observe, listen.”
In front of the Kleberg County Sheriff's Office in Kingsville, two deputies and a dispatcher gave 3NEWS a demonstration of how to properly arrest somebody on the ground face down.
Cpl. Jacob Mendiola used jiujitsu techniques to get dispatcher Hector DeLeon under control without having to kneel on his neck or back.
”So, once we're cuffed here, at this point, my job is not done, OK," he said. "I know I have him secured, and now we need to make sure we can open up the breathing in the airway, right? 'Cause if I’m on my chest right here, we’re starting to compress the chest and what I want to do is turn up over on his side.”
Once Mendiola had DeLeon on his side, he then worked to get him to his feet.
DeLeon said training is the key to stopping many of those in-custody deaths, just as the Associated Press discovered and documented.
Tuesday's installment addresses training incidents in one Indiana police department in which one rookie sheriff's deputy died after his academy training officer pressed down on his chest during an exercise.