hello i'm sergeant efrain cornejo as part of the milwaukee police department's continuous commitment to be transparent with our community we created community briefings to provide information to the public regarding officer-involved critical incidents community briefings are intended to provide relevant information which may include video footage audio recordings photographs and other evidence it is our priority to release this information and inform our community as soon as possible unless releasing the information will compromise the integrity of the investigation when watching this video keep in mind that this may still be an ongoing investigation for privacy purposes we have concealed audio and images of community members captured in this video the video you are about to see may contain officers using force explicit language and disturbing images viewer discretion is strongly advised hello i'm inspector david feldmeyer with the milwaukee police department in this community briefing i'm going to share with you information and circumstances surrounding the death of a subject while in police custody the incident took place on the morning of december 9th 2021 within the temporary holding cells at police district 2 on the city's south side the following is a picture of the cell the subject was in when he became despondent police contact with the subject was initiated during a traffic stop on the night of december 8 2021 in the 1600 block of south cesar chavez drive officers conducted a stop for a moving traffic violation however the vehicle and occupants were already subjects in an ongoing narcotics investigation the vehicle was occupied by an adult male driver and an adult male passenger both subjects were taken into custody in relation to the narcotics investigation both subjects were cooperative and were detained without incident or force the following is the arresting officer's body-worn camera video of the initial traffic stop where the subject had first contact with officers and was taken into custody [Music] you boy okay reason i'm pulling your man we're doing a bunch of traffic stuff back there he didn't use your turn it'll click and then go off okay not the biggest issue any guns in the car and then we gotta worry about no okay do you have an id do you say your first name bud latte vermont okay all right but i'm gonna have you step on the car okay why do you have so much cocaine on your lap put your phone down after the arrest both subjects were transported to district 2 for further processing where a thorough search was conducted and narcotics were recovered as a result during the booking process officers noticed the subject began to have a medical event and were concerned he may have ingested narcotics a supervisor was summoned for further assessment and called for medical attention police personnel followed standard operating procedures with regard to persons while in custody and in need of medical attention the subject was treated at a local hospital medically cleared released back into police custody and transported back to district 2 to continue the booking process and to be questioned by police regarding the narcotics investigation during this time the subject appears to be alert and following instructions he completes the booking process without incident or disruption the following video depicts the subject alert and answering officer's questions the subject indicates he is fine and uninjured in the past 24 hours are you drinking alcohol no in the past 24 hours are you taking any illegal drugs you know how much you know when uh yesterday i guess they won't with us before us have you taken any prescription medication no are you supposed to no are you injured in any kind of way no a routine medical questionnaire was administered to the subject in which he indicated he had no medical issues or need for medical attention after the booking process the subject was placed in his cell to await transport to the milwaukee county criminal justice facility during this time the booker conducts his mandatory regular checks of the holding cells where the drive with the subject along with several other subjects are being held the booker does not detect anything irregular and leaves the cell area moments later the booker is summoned back to the cell by a subject in one of the other cells who alerts him to our subject the booker observes the subject in his cell leaves the cell area to retrieve the cell keys and returns accompanied by other officers the subject was found on the cell floor unresponsive medical attention was summoned and the subject was attended to by medical personnel and transported to another local hospital where life-saving measures were attempted the subject was ultimately pronounced deceased by medical personnel the cause of death at this time is unknown and under investigation this investigation is ongoing and is being led by the milwaukee area investigative team with the west allis police department as the lead agency at the conclusion of their investigation they will present this case to the milwaukee county district attorney's office for review