Analysis: JPD officers tased Keith Murriel at least fifty times over sixteen minutes

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - Officers with the Jackson Police Department tased Keith Murriel at least 52 times over the course of sixteen minutes in an effort to get him to comply, according to a 3 On Your Side analysis of body camera footage provided by the city.

The unedited video, which Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba released to news organizations Wednesday, provides a clear timeline of events that led to Murriel’s death and strong evidence that those officers violated departmental policy.

The recording begins at 8:49 p.m. as Officer Kenya McCarty approaches Murriel at the Extended Stay hotel on Beasley Road and tells him to leave.

“We’re just doing our thing,” Murriel said.

McCarty, having already gotten complaints from another hotel guest about Murriel, asked him several times if he understands her, but he did not respond.

“When one of them shoots your a**, don’t say nothing,” McCarty said, referring to the other guests.

Murriel doesn’t say much else, but the body camera footage captures quite a bit of colorful language and aggressiveness from McCarthy -- aggressiveness she says came from Murriel disrespecting her by not complying when she wanted him to do so.

As Murriel begins to walk away, she points her taser at him several times.

At 8:58 p.m., Murriel walks back to the property and the evening takes a violent turn.

Over the next 16 minutes, Murriel will be tased at least 52 times despite being on the ground almost the entire time.

Thirteen of those shocks take place over the course of a minute.

McCarty and Officer Avery Willis repeatedly tell him to comply, be still and give them his hands, but Murriel does not do so.

The video shows Murriel pleading with the officers to stop tasing him.

At times, the officers also tell Murriel that if he strikes them, they’ll be able to get even more aggressive.

“If you put hands on me, it’s game on,” Willis said during the encounter.

At 9:17 p.m., McCarty, Willis, and Officer James Land manage to get Murriel in the patrol car and lay him on his stomach, an ordeal that took more than ten minutes because of his resistance and large size.

No one opens the door to check on him until AMR arrives at 10:10 p.m.

When the paramedic opens the door, one of the officers asks if Murriel is breathing.

“I don’t think so,” the EMT said.

As the officers and paramedics get Murriel, unresponsive and glassy-eyed, onto a stretcher, Officer Land tells them he thinks he feels the man breathing.

As paramedics begin administering chest compressions, they tell the officers to get assistance from the Jackson Fire Department because of a “possible cardiac event.”

Four people - Willis, McCarty, a paramedic, and a firefighter - take turns administering CPR to Murriel for nearly ten minutes.

It’s unclear when Murriel was pronounced dead, but it didn’t happen while these officers’ body cameras were recording.

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