Family wants answers about man who died during encounter with Prattville police
PRATTVILLE, Ala. (WAKA) – Family members of a man who died during an incident involving Prattville police say they want answers about his death.
Family and friends of Jermaine Tyler held a news conference with their attorneys today to say they know very little about his death.
At about 6:30PM on Tuesday, May 19, police say they were called to the area of Fairview Avenue and Diane Drive after getting calls about a man, who was said to have appeared intoxicated, who was walking in and out of traffic while waving his hands and arms.
Police say officers secured him and asked for medical personnel to evaluate his condition. That’s when police say he seemed to experience a cardiac event. They say lifesaving measures were performed on him, but he died at Prattville Baptist Hospital.
Police say they would not release any further information, pending an investigation by the Elmore County Sheriff’s Office.
Attorneys for the family say they’ve requested body cam video and other information surrounding Tyler’s death, but say they’ve been denied because they’ve been told it’s an ongoing investigation.
“We have reached out to a number of witnesses and gathered a lot more information than what was already provided to the media from the people that were actually there, which is the Prattville Police Department, and so we will continue our investigation and we hope that ALEA gets involved to do an independent criminal investigation of the facts that happened here,” attorney Brandon Price Crum of the Serious Injury Law Group said.
“We just demand justice for Jermaine Tyler. He was a good boy. I just don’t know what else to say, and I miss him so much. That was my baby. That was my baby boy,” Rosetta Tyler, Jermaine Tyler’s mother, said.
