According to an Associated Press investigation, at least 16 people in California passed away over a ten-year period after being physically accosted by police and having a strong sedative administered into them by medical workers.
The San Francisco Bay Area was the scene of several killings, including two in recent years involving persons under Richmond Police Department restraint. There were also incidents in cities in Orange and San Bernardino counties, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
While ketamine use has come under fire in other jurisdictions, the AP’s investigation revealed that midazolam, also marketed under the brand name Versed, was nearly always utilized by paramedics in California.
These deaths were among the more than 1,000 that the Associated Press’s investigation revealed occurred across the country following the deployment of Tasers, which, like sedatives, are not intended to be lethal weapons, but rather physical force by law enforcement. According to medical professionals, over half of the deaths were either caused by or involved police force.
The exact role that injections may have had in many of the 94 sedation-related deaths that reporters across discovered between 2012 and 2021 was impossible for the AP to ascertain.
Authorities mostly focused on the use of force by police and other medications in people’s systems, rarely looking into whether injections were appropriate. Few of those deaths were linked to the sedation.
The injections are intended to calm individuals who are aggressive, frequently as a result of drug use or a psychotic episode, so they can be taken to the hospital. Sedatives, according to proponents, allow for quick treatment while shielding first responders from harm.
Read Also: Florida’s Deadly Encounter: 17 Lives Lost Due to Sedative Injections Amid Police Confrontations
Critics contend that it can be too dangerous to hand out the drugs during police interactions if they are given without consent.
The investigation, conducted by the AP in association with FRONTLINE (PBS) and the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism, found that California was among the states with the highest number of sedation instances.
In fifteen of the sixteen incidents in California, midazolam was administered by paramedics working outside of hospitals. The medication has a side effect called respiratory depression, which experts warn might be harmful if combined with breathing-restricting police restraining techniques, alcohol, or certain substances that the patient may already be under the influence of.
In the sixteenth instance, a man was restrained by police at a San Diego hospital while receiving an injection of lorazepam, a medication of a similar class.
Two San Diego ER physicians told the AP they had talked about moving from midazolam to ketamine, which proponents claim is safer and acts more quickly. However, the doctors claimed that the plan was hindered by unfavorable press surrounding ketamine, particularly following deaths and abuse in Colorado.
According to Eric Jaeger, a New Hampshire-based emergency medical services trainer who has researched the matter and is an advocate for more safety precautions and training, the AP’s analysis demonstrates that the risks of sedation during behavioral emergencies transcend the use of any one medication.
In the past, sedatives were frequently used to treat “excited delirium,” an agitated state associated with drug abuse or mental disease that medical associations have recently denied.
The first state to prohibit enthusiastic delirium as a legitimate medical diagnosis, including as the reason for death in autopsies, was California in 2023.
“Now that we have better information, we know that it can present a significant danger regardless of the sedative agent used,” he stated.
In the past, sedatives were frequently used to treat “excited delirium,” an agitated state associated with drug abuse or mental disease that medical associations have recently denied. The first state to prohibit enthusiastic delirium as a legitimate medical diagnosis, including as the reason for death in autopsies, was California in 2023.