Sacramento police release video of Elk Grove man who died after officers tried to detain him
Police on Thursday released video of a 64-year-old Elk Grove man who died from an apparent medical emergency last month after he crashed his car in Sacramento’s Woodbine neighborhood and was found in a nearby home’s backyard.
Officers found Joseph Lee Hendricks in the early hours of June 27 after they responded to reports of a possible prowler in the 2500 block of 51st Avenue, between Woodbine Avenue and 24th Street.
The police video shows the officers did not use force or handcuff Hendricks at any point during the encounter. But the Sacramento Police Department conducted a death-in-custody investigation, because Hendricks suffered a medical emergency as officers were detaining him.
The Police Department released an edited video with narration that includes 911 audio, two body-worn camera videos and a home’s security camera video. The department also released raw videos and audio recordings from the incident.
Shortly before 4:30 a.m. that day, patrol officers responded to 911 calls from residents reporting someone possibly prowling on their property. One caller said they heard an unknown person enter their backyard.
Police said the officers arrived at the scene and spotted an unoccupied vehicle that appeared to have been involved in a crash nearby. The video shows the officers speaking to Hendricks, who was in the home’s backyard. The officers told Hendricks to come out.
Hendricks appeared in the video to be disoriented as he squeezed through an opening in a side fence. The Elk Grove man struggled to speak to the officers, but insisted the home was his residence. The officers told him they had already spoken to the home’s residents, who said they didn’t know him.
When Hendricks made his way out from the backyard into the front lawn, he struggled to stand up and walk toward the officers. He repeatedly braced himself on the side of the house before the officers reached over and held him up as they walked further onto the front lawn.
“I better sit down, man,” Hendricks told one of the officers.
The officer helped Hendricks walk a few steps further, before he slowly fell on his back in the lawn, the video shows. He then told the officers his first name and confirmed he was involved in the nearby car crash. The officers asked him if he wanted them to call for medics, and he agreed.
Within the next two minutes, the officers recognized Hendricks was experiencing an apparent medical emergency. The officers rendered emergency medical aid, including CPR.
“Yeah, he’s not responsive. Eyes are wide open,” one of the officers said before they began performing chest compressions on Hendricks.
Medics from the Sacramento Fire Department arrived at the home and took Hendricks to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Detectives were called to the home, along with crime scene investigators to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The detectives believe that Hendrick was the driver of the crashed unoccupied vehicle, which is registered in his name. The police video included footage from a home security camera that captured the nearby car crash.
This story was originally published July 13, 2023 at 3:45 PM.
