A 911 dispatch call revealed Baltimore Police called for a medic at least twice to treat a man in West Baltimore they detained amid a mental health crisis earlier this week.

The medic never came, and the man died hours later.

The Independent Investigation Division of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office is investigating the man’s death in police custody, they announced Thursday. The incident occurred between 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday, and the man was pronounced dead just after 3 a.m. Wednesday, officials said. The Baltimore Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.

In dispatch audio, a Baltimore Police officer reported that he was at North Franklintown Road and West Franklin Street around 9:40 p.m.

“I’ve got a gentleman pulling on my doors asking for help,” he said. “But he doesn’t look like he need help.”

“I’m fine. He just seems like he’s having a mental crisis,” the officer added. “He just thinks somebody’s chasing him, but nobody’s chasing him.”

Several minutes later, another officer calls out, “He’s very irate right now. They have leg shackles on him and handcuffs already.”

In response to a question from a dispatcher, the officer replied, “All cops are OK here. Going to figure out some transportation here and get him off the street.”

Police then tried to verify that a medic was coming. A dispatcher replied that one was requested at 9:48 p.m. and again at 9:55 p.m. “No ETA on when the medic or engine will arrive.”

Officers reiterated their request over and over. By 10:12 p.m., one asked, “Can we reorder the medic? The gentleman is now unconscious.”

Law enforcement then renewed their request around 10:20 p.m. “We’re still waiting on a medic here. Individual was unresponsive at this moment. We tried to place him in the car, we were unable to do so due to his limp body, so. We’re still waiting on the medic.”

By 10:27 p.m., an officer radioed, “We’re going to transport.”

According to the attorney general’s office, officers transported the man, who has not been identified, sometime around 10:30 p.m. to an area hospital.

The timeline for the arrival of an ambulance laid out in the scanner traffic indicates that police waited well beyond the average response time for Baltimore, which is already above the national average.

Restraint-related deaths in police custody

The death comes on the heels of an independent audit of dozens of “restraint-related” deaths in police custody. Several of those cases involved individuals experiencing medical episodes while restrained, often in a prone position.

The audit found evidence of racial and pro-police bias in those investigations, which often concluded that the death was “accidental” or natural as opposed to a homicide. It’s unclear what the medical examiner’s determination might be in this case.

On July 25, 2023, 29-year-old Trea Ellinger died while in custody of Maryland Transit Administration and Baltimore Police officers. Officers responded to the 200 block of South Howard Street to reports of Ellinger lying in the middle of the street, “fighting people” and threatening to harm himself, according to the attorney general’s office.

Ellinger was restrained, handcuffed, sedated and placed in an ambulance, the attorney general’s office said. He became unresponsive after a while, and medics rendered aid. He was transported to a hospital, where he later died.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Ellinger’s cause of death as mixed drug intoxication. None of the involved officers were charged.

Ten years ago, 25-year-old Freddie Gray died due to a spinal cord injury he sustained in police custody. The Sandtown-Winchester man’s death sparked both local and national uprisings, a federal civil rights investigation into BPD’s practices, and a Justice Department-issued consent decree to reform the police department.

Recent killings amid mental health crises

A part of the consent decree required Baltimore to identify gaps in their behavioral service system and recommend and implement solutions. A 2024 semiannual update showed BPD has made progress, such as in expanding the mobile crisis response team, but had more room for improvement in other areas, such as 911 diversion calls.

Whether the progress is being felt may be debatable amongst community members. About 12 hours after the man died Wednesday, Baltimore Police officers fatally shot 70-year-old Pytorcarcha Brooks after she allegedly lunged at officers with a knife while experiencing a mental health crisis.

This incident occurred in the 2700 block of Mosher Street, about a 10-minute walk from where police encountered the other man in a mental health crisis.

Aaron Maybin, the chair of the Baltimore City Civilian Review Board, expressed how frustrating and disheartening these back-to-back instances of people being killed amid behavioral health emergencies were in a recent video shared on Instagram. He called for more trained crisis response teams to be deployed into communities with police officers.

“This is an indictment on our entire system, and we need to be real about the crisis that we’re experiencing because it doesn’t seem to be dying down,” he said in the video. “If anything, it seems to be ramping up.”

Maybin said he’ll be closely monitoring the attorney general’s office’s investigation and looks forward to reviewing the body camera footage. The attorney general’s office has not released the names of the man killed or the officers involved nor the body camera footage.

Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen is calling for a hearing on the city’s response to behavioral health crises in the wake of the deaths this week at the hands of Baltimore Police.

Cohen, a Democrat who has spearheaded legislation addressing mental health during his time on the council, called for a yet-to-be-scheduled hearing in response to the deaths, which he called a “heartbreaking reminder that far too many Baltimoreans suffer in silence.”

On Friday, following the death of a 70-year-old woman and another man who was in police custody, Cohen said law enforcement alone cannot be expected to solve the city’s mental health crisis. He touted work by the City Council to financially support Baltimore Crisis Response.

“Now is the time for effective oversight to make sure all of our systems work together,” Cohen said. “We owe it to all Baltimoreans whose lives have been shattered in these moments of crisis to take action and get this right.”

Baltimore Banner reporters Dylan Segelbaum, Ben Conark and Emily Opilo contributed to this report.