Seattle police were restraining Keenan Pearson immediately before he died, an eyewitness to last Saturday’s in-custody death said. SeattleU law student Le’Jayah Washington was at the R-Day Block Party in Georgetown and saw it unfold.
According to a press release from the King County independent investigation team, known as IFIT-KC, Seattle police officers were holding Pearson and calling for medical aid. Washington said that a man had assaulted Pearson in a bar called 9lb. Hammer, and security had ejected both of them.
Though Pearson was part of the disturbance, he was not under arrest or in handcuffs initially and was leaning against the pushbar of an officer’s cruiser.
Pearson had fallen while security was ejecting him from the bar and was lying in the street when officers found him. There’s conflicting information. Per IFIT-KC, officers said Pearson was having trouble standing on his own. At the same time, on a radio call, an officer on the scene implied that he did not believe that Pearson’s injuries were serious and that medics may only be needed to “check his vitals.”
At 8:20 pm, a Seattle police officer relayed to dispatch that he was “alert and conscious.” Shortly thereafter, Washington said Pearson began saying “Ow” and touching his side.
He stepped forward off of the pushbar and fell to the ground. The IFIT-KC release said he fell and rolled, but Washington described his movements as actively “rocking” rather than collapsing and rolling.
A group of four to five officers turned him on his abdomen and began handcuffing him, Washington said. The IFIT-KC statement insinuated that this was for his own protection because he was “rolling across the roadway.” However, Washington said that he was never in any danger. The street was closed due to the festival.
Washington said that the officers were on top of him for around three minutes until he stopped moving and responding. She said one of them was kneeling on his neck.
They rolled him onto his side into the “recovery position,” then sat him up, but he no longer appeared to be sitting up on his own. Washington said he seemed to be slumped against an officer’s leg.
Paramedics arrived at around 8:27 pm. Washington said she saw the medics check his pulse and begin chest compressions almost immediately. According to IFIT-KC, Pearson lost consciousness five minutes after EMTs arrived during their patient evaluation.
Washington said she was in shock and that IFIT-KC’s investigators didn’t seem interested in talking to witnesses. “I didn’t see them interacting with anyone, for real,” she said.
She waited over two hours before finally speaking to a Washington State Patrol detective.
The King County Medical Examiner has completed Pearson’s autopsy, but the cause and manner of death are still pending, as the medical examiner awaits a toxicology report.
Earlier this year, a 27-year-old man named Leon Davis died in Federal Way police custody. In July, the medical examiner determined that his death was caused by “prolonged restraint.” Seven officers held Davis down for nearly 25 minutes, and he had blunt force injuries to his neck, head, face, and wrists. His family is suing the city for $50 million.
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