LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Las Vegas man had methamphetamine in his system when he died in police custody after telling officers handcuffing him on the ground he couldn't breathe, a coroner said Thursday.
Byron Lee Williams' death on Sept. 5 following a pre-dawn bicycle and foot chase was a homicide, Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said in a statement that called "prone restraint" by police a "significant" factor.
The statement said the finding doesn't mean there was criminal activity or wrongdoing, but that actions by others "resulted in or contributed to" Williams' death. Fudenberg was traveling Thursday and unavailable for comment, spokesman Dan Kulin said.
Williams, 50, also had heart and lung diseases and a high blood pressure
condition, the coroner said.
Police said last month that Williams was still talking when he was lifted to his feet during his arrest by officers Benjamin Vasquez and Patrick Campbell.
Williams didn't have a weapon, but body-worn camera video appeared to show Williams dropped and tried to kick away plastic bags of methamphetamine and a bottle containing hydrocodone pills when he stood, before becoming unconscious. Williams was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital.
Vasquez, 27, and Campbell, 29, are on paid leave pending results of police internal affairs and district attorney investigations, Officer Larry Hadfield said. The department declined to comment about the coroner's findings.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson also declined to comment.
Williams' stepson, Jeffery Thompkins, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal following the death that department officials showed family members other body-camera clips showing police moving Williams' limp body and an apparent lapse in recordings made evident by a change in the angle of the rising sun.
Clark County Assistant Sheriff Charles Hank said the department was investigating whether officers improperly turned off body cameras during or after Williams' arrest and medical treatment.
Williams had a history of criminal arrests and felony drug convictions in California and Nevada and was wearing a court-ordered GPS monitoring device on his ankle and was supposed to be on house arrest in a pending felony drug and forgery case in Las Vegas, police said.
Hank said the officers tried to stop Williams because his bicycle had no safety lights.