SALT LAKE CITY — Body camera videos were released Monday from two Salt Lake police officers who responded to a call of a naked man outside in the cold who appeared to be struggling.
The man was handcuffed by the officers for safety. He died at a local hospital less than an hour later. But because the man had been taken into custody, Salt Lake police enacted an officer-involved critical incident protocol to investigate the incident.
On Nov. 21, about 5 p.m., police received two 911 calls of a man not wearing any clothes near the corner of 800 South and 700 East. The temperature at that time was 46 degrees, according to police.
Officers found 50-year-old John Gianini sitting down near a boarded-up house. Next to him was a wheelchair that appeared to have tarps and personal items loaded onto it.
“What’s going on with you?” one of the officers is heard on the video asking Gianini. “You can’t be out here naked like that.”
But Gianini does not answer any of the officer’s questions and police say he did not appear to be alert and was making “growling” noises. He also “appeared very thin, weak, malnourished and skeletal,” police said.
“He’s out of it,” an officer says at one point while also noting that he believes it may be a drug-related problem and that he’s “spitting up stuff.”
“We’re going to need medical to come take a look at you because if you’re not talking to me, and you’re naked in this type of weather, that tells me something’s wrong,” the officer tells Gianini.
Crews from the Salt Lake fire and Gold Cross ambulance were called to assist officers. As the officers are waiting for the ambulance to arrive, one officer talks several times about “pink sheeting” Gianini, which is the term used for hospitalizing a person for evaluation if police believe they are a danger to themself or others.
While waiting for medical crews to arrive, the two officers try to cover Gianini with a blanket and other items sitting in the wheelchair nearby. They also tell him several times to remain seated or “cover up.”
“If you try to stand up again you’re going to go into handcuffs,” an officer tells him.
Gianini tries to stand up again, and the officers place handcuffs on him with his arms behind his back. Gianini makes moaning noises as he is being handcuffed.
As Gold Cross crews prepared to take Gianini to a local hospital, the officers took the handcuffs off one of his wrists and locked it around the gurney Gianini was being transported on. While en route to the hospital, police say ambulance crews reported that Gianini “had altered mental status, low blood pressure, was hypothermic, and they could not get vitals.”
Gianini was pronounced dead at the hospital, 44 minutes after police first made contact with him.
“This is a very tragic case,” said Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown. “Based on my review of the body-worn camera footage and the information we have received, it appears Mr. Gianini was already in the stages of critical medical decline by the time our officers arrived on scene. Our officers acted quickly, providing Mr. Gianini with clothing and blankets to cover him to offer warmth, immediate aid and comfort.”
An exact cause of death has not been determined. The two officers remain on standard paid leave while an outside agency conducts an investigation that will be turned over to the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office at the conclusion.
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