FPD releases bodycam footage from Greenleese Drive incident; Maryland AG investigating death following encounter

Nov. 19—The Frederick Police Department on Friday released body-worn camera footage from a service call Nov. 12 following a report of a man behaving erratically.

The man, 23-year-old Daniel Michael Holley of Virginia, died Sunday at Frederick Health Hospital, where he was transported after his encounter with police, according to a news release from the department Friday.

The release states the department notified the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, which will be handling the investigation through its Independent Investigations Division.

"We feel we owe it to the community to be the agency they receive this information from, so long as we can do it in a way that does not jeopardize the integrity of the Independent Investigations Division investigation," police spokesman Allen Etzler said.

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Raquel Coombs, spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General, said Friday the office had no updates to provide on the case, including no further information about substances Holley may have ingested or when a toxicology report would be made public.

Footage shows the encounter from vantage points of three different officer body cameras, and each segment is preceded by an explanation from Chief Jason Lando.

In the video, Lando said an ambulance was dispatched within one minute of police officers arriving at the scene, and paramedics arrived on scene within eight minutes. Police had been dispatched at 7:10 p.m.

Upon arriving at the scene — located in the 1800 block of Greenleese Drive — officers found Holley naked, sweating profusely, pacing and talking incoherently, according to the department. They were also informed Holley had possibly consumed bleach.

When bodycam footage first comes on-screen, an officer can be heard asking Holley, whom he calls "DJ," to lay down. Holley, who is nude and visibly distressed, appears to be surrounded by at least four officers — two to his right, one to his left and one in front of him.

He begins engaging with the officer in front of him, loosely swinging his arms as the officer holds Holley's wrists and asks him repeatedly to sit down.

Holley then drops his arms and begins swaying side to side, and the officer to his left can be heard asking, "DJ, sit down for me, just so you don't bump your head. I know you're warm, I'm gonna get you a washcloth. For your face, OK? I'm gonna get you a washcloth, all right?"

After a moment, Holley resumes swinging his arms at the officer in front of him. In response, the officer tries to grab hold of Holley's wrists, but Holley's movements become more forceful, and he eventually knocks the officer's glasses off his face.

The officer recoils, and when he turns Holley tackles him from behind, bringing the pair to the ground. An officer can be seen discharging his taser, which the department's release said struck Holley in the buttocks.

Once Holley is on the ground, officers can be seen restraining and handcuffing him. Still in visible and audible distress, Holley can be heard yelling and grunting incoherently.

From one vantage point shown in the department's video, as officers try to handcuff Holley, one places his forearm near Holley's head and neck area in an apparent attempt to restrain him. Once Holley is cuffed, the officer removes his arm.

Holley can be seen continuing to writhe while handcuffed on the ground, and one officer repeatedly demands Holley calm down, while another instructs his peers to get Holley "in recovery position," on his side, which Lando explained in the video is meant to protect Holley's airway.

Officers eventually place Holley in a stretcher. Before taking him out of the residence, officers momentarily struggle to calm Holley again.

An officer can be heard asking, "Hey, is he, like, really warm?" To which the officer on screen replies, "Yeah, I would imagine, yeah." An officer off screen confirms that he is.

As the officers carry Holley out, an officer says Holley is biting him, to which another replies, "Don't let him bite you."

The officers eventually emerge from the residence, strap Holley to a mobile stretcher and appear to wheel him toward an ambulance, at which point the video ends.

Holley's condition remained unchanged during his transport to Frederick Health, according to the department's release.

Toward the end of the video, Lando says that while Holley was in the emergency department, he suffered an "unknown medical emergency" and was admitted to the hospital, where he remained throughout the weekend.

According to the department's release, Frederick Health staff notified the police department at roughly 11 p.m. Sunday that Holley had died.

Follow Jack Hogan on Twitter: @jckhogan