UPDATE: In keeping with the Seattle Police Department’s ongoing transparency efforts, SPD is releasing body cam video from this incident.
Portions of the video have been blurred or redacted to ensure nondisclosure of sensitive or personal information.
Detectives are investigating the death of a 53-year-old man last night in North Seattle.
Shortly after 11:00 pm, officers responded to reports of a man in the street at N. 105th Street and Aurora Avenue North. Upon arrival, the subject left the roadway and met the officers on the sidewalk. For several minutes, the officers attempted to persuade him to let them give him a ride home, which he declined. As officers were leaving, the man re-entered the intersection amidst heavy traffic. Concerned that the man posed a threat to his own safety, officers re-contacted him, brought him to the sidewalk, and called for an ambulance to transport him to the hospital for medical evaluation. While awaiting the ambulance, the officers had to restrain the man, who was physically resisting.
When the ambulance arrived, officers assisted ambulance personnel in placing the man on a gurney, which was then loaded into the back of the ambulance and attended to by a member of the ambulance staff. Several minutes later, prior to transport, an officer noticed that the man appeared to be in medical distress, and ambulance personnel began CPR. Officers summoned Seattle Fire Department personnel who also arrived at the scene and continued life-saving measures, which unfortunately were unsuccessful. The man was declared deceased at the scene.
This remains an active and on-going investigation. The Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death.
