Body camera sheds new light on in-custody death at Dallas hospital

Body camera video is shedding new light on the in-custody death of a man at a Dallas hospital.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner ruled Kenneth Knotts's death a homicide. Late in 2023, a grand jury declined to indict the officers on criminal charges.

In October, the attorney retained by the Knotts family filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the UT System.

Geoff Henley said he fought for a month to obtain the body camera video and received it yesterday. He played a portion of it for members of the media on Tuesday.

It showed Knotts in handcuffs in a hospital room at UT Southwestern just after noon on November 29, 2022. Henley said the 41-year-old was taken there during a mental crisis.

Knotts takes a few sips of water before police return him to the gurney. He begins struggling with officers and is placed face-down on the bed.

The struggle continues, and at one point, Knotts says, “I can't breathe.” Minutes later, he's seen lying motionless on the edge of the gurney.

When he's turned over to medical staff, staff is heard saying, “No pulse, no pulse.” Seconds later, more staff are seen rushing into the room. They try to resuscitate Knotts, but are unable.

“By the time someone says, ‘Check his pulse, he doesn't have a pulse’, he'd already been dead for quite some time,” said Henley.

The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the death was a homicide and that Knotts had a cardiac arrest associated with physical restraint and semi-prone position.

It’s the result, Henley said, of being wedged against the bed.

“You're applying pressure against the chest. It can't expand and contract. You can't breathe,” Henley summarized.

Henley filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the U-T System in October.

“I know Kenneth had to be scared. He had to be in fear. He had to be terrified,” his mother Jocelyn Knotts said in October.

The family rallied outside the hospital in February, demanding the release of the body camera video.

“Jocelyn Knotts, there’s not a day that goes by that she doesn’t think about her son, and we know that when they see this, that they're going to be just stricken,” Henley said Tuesday.