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WEST JORDAN — A man who died shortly after being placed in handcuffs by West Jordan police died due to drug toxicity and not because of the actions of the officers, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office said Friday.
"While Mr. (Orlando Toro) Garcia's death occurred after he was handcuffed, the primary cause of his death was mixed drug toxicity. Based upon the facts and evidence before us, we do not believe it likely that his death resulted from the officers' attempts to gain physical control of him. There is nothing remarkable from the video footage to even infer that the actions of the officers were anything other than reasonable efforts to stabilize the scene so that emergency medical responders could safely enter and provide medical aid to Mr. Garcia," District Attorney Sim Gill concluded in his report.
On Aug. 27, 2023, police were called to a home near 4800 West and 6300 South about 1:40 a.m. on a report of a man possibly overdosing. While officers were en route, a 911 dispatcher "advised that he was violent and 'looking for things that aren't there,'" the report states.
Officers arrived to find Garcia, 32, sitting and partially lying on the front lawn. His brother and the brother's wife were standing nearby waiting for police.
Body camera videos released Friday show the brother telling arriving officers Garcia is "going crazy" and "he needs to be in a hospital." The brother, however, is also concerned that police may hurt Garcia and tries to get reassurance several times that they will take him to a hospital and not shoot him.
West Jordan police officers Matthew Collins and Nolan Butler approach Garcia and tell them they are there to help.
"You're going to be OK, Orlando," one officer tells him, while repeating several times that they aren't going to shoot him.
The officers ask Garcia to lie on his stomach so they can handcuff his hands behind his back for safety and to check for weapons before medical crews can approach. Garcia, however, starts to groan and struggle with the officers who try to tell him, "You're good" and, "We're going to get you help." Garcia's brother attempts to hold down Garcia's flailing legs, but is told several times by officers to back away from the scene.
The officers are seen in the videos rolling Garcia onto his side after he is handcuffed to try and get grass out of his mouth. But just seconds later, an officer notes Garcia is turning blue.
"Looks like he's seizing or choking," an officer says as he tells medical personnel to enter the area,
The officers then remove the handcuffs, which were on Garcia about 1½ minutes, roll him onto his back and start to perform CPR.
"Fire continued providing emergency medical aid for over 20 minutes, however, Mr. Garcia did not regain consciousness," the report states.
An autopsy by the Utah State Medical Examiner's Office "determined that Mr. Garcia died as a result of mixed drug toxicity — cocaine, cocaethylene, oxycodone, and buprenorphine," the report states.
The autopsy also determined that Garcia's condition may been exacerbated by him struggling against the handcuffs.
"While the physiologic mechanism of death during restraint is not completely known, an exertion such as this can exacerbate the stress already placed on his cardiovascular system by his cocaine usage," the medical examiner's office stated.
Because Garcia's death was not a result of the officers' attempt to gain control of him, it "does not qualify as an 'officer-involved critical incident,'" Gill stated in his report. "We believe the facts in this case are consistent with lawful efforts to stabilize the scene for emergency medical responders and to provide emergency medical aid, and further believe that the officers responded reasonably based on the information known to them at the time and as the situation evolved."
