FILE – In this undated photo provided by Kenda James, Kevin Dizmang holds his granddaughter as an infant. Members of a mental health response team sent to Dizmang, a man who was having a “psychotic breakdown”, instead killed him by tackling him and leaving him handcuffed, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, by his family. (Kenda James via AP, File) Credit: AP 
Kevin Dizmang’s daughter, Kenda James, left, hugs Dizmang’s adoptive mother, Wilda Moore, as Kenda’s mother, Linda Yutzy stands after a press conference outside the City Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, in Colorado Springs, Colo. Members of a mental health response team sent to help Dizmang who was having a “psychotic breakdown” instead killed him by tackling him and leaving him handcuffed, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by the man’s family. (Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette via AP) Credit: AP
DENVER | Members of a Colorado Springs mental health response team sent to help a man who was having a “psychotic breakdown” instead killed him by tackling him and leaving him handcuffed, according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by the man’s family.
The lawsuit over the 2022 death of Kevin Dizmang in Colorado Springs was filed against the team’s paramedic, Nick Fisher, and police officer Sean Reed. It identifies Fisher as the person seen taking Dizmang, 63, to the ground in body camera footage released last year by lawyers for Dizmang’s family after his death was ruled a homicide and raised questions about how police handle encounters with people experiencing mental health crises.
Other body camera footage taken at the hospital as staff tried to save Dizmang’s life shows Fisher joking about how he relied on his high school football experience to bring Dizmang to the ground, according to the lawsuit. When someone compliments him on his “good form,” someone responds “Well, not so much” in the footage.
Fisher resigned from the department in June 2023. But fire department spokesperson Ashley Franco said she could not provide details about his departure because it was a personnel matter.
Reed still works for the police department but is in a different role because of his own choice, department spokesperson Ira Cronin said.
In December, Aurora paramedics were convicted of contributing to the death of Elijah McClain after injecting him with an overdose of ketamine tranquilizer. McClain, who was Black, was confronted by police walking home from a convenience store because a motorist thought he looked “sketchy.”
Both the fire and police departments declined to comment on the lawsuit, and neither Reed nor Fisher could be located for comment. Someone who answered the phone at a possible telephone number for Reed hung up when contacted by The Associated Press.
The district attorney’s office found the actions of the officer and the paramedic were justified, and no criminal charges were filed.
The team responded after Dizmang’s family reported that he was experiencing severe symptoms related to his history of PTSD and schizophrenia, with his ex-wife stating that she feared he was possibly trying to kill himself by walking into traffic on a busy street near his house, according to the lawsuit.
The body camera footage shows an officer, identified by the lawsuit as Reed, telling Dizmang to put his hands behind his back while in the street, as others try to stop cars. The video shows Dizmang resisting attempts by the officer to put handcuffs on him before he is taken to the ground by a man dressed in red identified in the lawsuit as Fisher.
It’s hard to see what is happening, but Fisher is shown leaning on top of Dizmang’s upper body, obscuring his head, as Dizmang lies face down. The lawsuit alleges Fisher placed him in a chokehold. Dizmang soon stops moving. After he is turned face up, others around him call on Dizmang to talk to them, but there is no response.
The lawsuit alleges Reed contributed to Dizmang’s death by not telling Fisher to stop “choking” Dizmang and also keeping him in handcuffs long after he became unresponsive.
According to the autopsy report, Dizmang died as the result of cardiac arrest that occurred while he was being restrained and while he was acutely intoxicated by methamphetamine and suffering from health problems such as obesity and asthma. The Jan. 6, 2023, report signed by five doctors concluded that the manner of Dizmang’s death was determined to be a homicide because of “the contribution of physical restraint to the cause of death.”
“He didn’t die of natural causes. Those people who came to help him, killed him,” said Harry Daniels, one of the family’s lawyers.
Dizmang’s daughter, Kenda James, who is a paramedic herself, said she told her mother to call 911 for help for her father and advised her to explain that he was in a mental health crisis.
“It’s really unfortunate that we requested help and ended up in a homicide situation. It makes us really, really feel like we should have never made a call for assistance,” she said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit.
I see no legitimate journalistic reason for inserting the paragraph about Elijah McClain into this entirely unrelated story. Just the Sentinel harping on the stale story where they can criticize the police.
What the Sentinel might have done is relate this story to the push in Aurora for intervention teams instead of Police response to mental health calls. There has been discussion of the plausible scenario that such teams will be ill equiped to han dle those situations. Here is one such example by our neighbor to the south. perhaps there were lessons to learn which could be applied in our own City, but that was not explored.
Unfortunately, at some point force has to be used to keep these people from hurting themselves or others. There will be deaths. There have always been deaths that have been difficult for the medical people to explain. Often they have drugs on board or are in poor health when force is used. The situation is compounded by the emotional stress that they put themselves through when they get into a struggle. The only way around these deaths that result in charges and lawsuits against those who restrain people is to simply allow them to hurt themselves or to hurt others. From what I understand from the police, that hands off approach is already starting. I would guess that citizens who are concerned will have to do something until they also get sued and charged. If you want to be judgmental about these things, then you should try restraining someone in one of these situations. Imagine what it is like for mental health workers, police, hospital staff, corrections personnel, and other responders who often have to spend hours controlling someone who is irrational, unpredictable, and often dangerous.
I must be missing something. Acutely intoxicated by methamphetamine, asthma, obesity, PTSD, schizophrenia, having a psychotic breakdown, resisting arrest, and possibly trying to kill himself by walking into traffic on a busy street and the first responders get sued. I’m sorry for everyone’s loss but I wonder why he was living in his home instead of somewhere where he could be safe, secure, and treated. Is his methamphetamine dealer named in the lawsuit or maybe his shrink?