HAYWARD — Police here have released video of officers wrestling with and eventually detaining a man who went unresponsive and died after being injected with a controversial sedative.
Nathan Hoang, 41, was handcuffed but later strapped to a gurney and placed into an ambulance when he went unconscious and required CPR. His death, suffered nine days later at a hospital, was attributed to a heart attack that stemmed from a combination of methamphetamine use, an enlarged heart and the violent struggle with police, according to video released by the city on Wednesday.
The video doesn’t address something that police noted in reports of the incident, which was an EMT allegedly injected Hoang with a sedative called midazolam. Sold under the brand name Versed, midazolam was the subject of an Associated Press investigation last year that identified 94 instances across the United States — from 2012 to 2021 — where a person died in police custody after being injected with it, while also noting the difficulties in extrapolating a single cause of death in people who are often under the influence of narcotics and engaged in stressful physical struggles.
The March 12 incident was not initially disclosed by the Hayward Police Department, which only publicly addressed it after this news organization reported it. Hoang’s family members have described him as a combat veteran who had been diagnosed with PTSD, and dealt with mental illness and drug addiction.
In the video, officers can be seen responding to the initial report of a burglary that brought them to a home on Virginia Street in Hayward. The reporting party said a man, later identified as Hoang, was yelling incoherently and attempting to break into a house. Officers are seen kicking down the door and rushing through the home in search of Hoang, who was eventually located standing on the roof of another residence.
At one point in the video, Hoang is seen swinging a screwdriver at police. An officer correctly identifies the tool and yells at a colleague to “tase him.” A few moments later, Hoang falls to the ground and officers gather around him, placing pressure on his back as they handcuff him on the ground, then attempting to sit him upright.
“Kill me,” Hoang mumbles at one point in the video.
“I don’t want to kill you,” a male officer replies.
After that, Hoang was placed on a gurney, strapped down, and put into a Falck ambulance. A few moments later, video shows EMTs calling Hayward officers into the ambulance to help administer CPR.
After he arrived at Eden Medical Center, a nurse told police it was common for a person’s blood pressure to “bottom out” after being given the sedative while also having another drug in their system, according to a police report.
Hoang’s death remains under investigation by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and Hayward police. The department said back in May — after Hoang’s death was publicly disclosed — that it didn’t inform the public in order to maintain the integrity of the probe.
The video can be viewed below. It is graphic and viewer discretion is advised: