Austin police release video of officer using Taser on man who later died in custody

Austin American-Statesman
Skye Seipp, Austin American-Statesman
October 16, 2023

The Austin Police Department released videos showing the moments when an officer used a Taser on a man who was beating himself with a metal pipe and was later pronounced dead.

Body-worn camera videos from Officer Thomas Bores, who fired his Taser, and from Officer William Simonton on Oct. 3 show that they found Reice Samuel Brown in the 12000 block of Research Boulevard on the northbound service road with no shirt on and bleeding from his head.

The Austin Police Department investigates an incident on Research Boulevard in Northwest Austin in which a man died after an officer used a Taser on him on Oct. 3
Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman

In 911 recordings, also released Monday, a construction worker who was nearby can be heard chasing after Brown through the high-speed roadway lanes before officers arrived.

Brown then began hitting himself with a pipe, and one of the officers said that he was "trying to kill himself," the video shows. Brown did not respond when officers told him to stop. Simonton called on Bores, who already had his Taser out when he exited the vehicle, to use the Taser on Brown.

"In order to prevent further injury, Officer Bores deployed his Department-approved taser," the Austin Police Department said in a news release on Monday.

After Bores shocked Brown with the Taser, Brown's body — which was blurred out in the video — could be seen dropping to the ground as the metal pipe hit the road. Officers approached him and began pulling his body into the road. Bores called to Simonton, "Are you good?" to which Simonton responded, "No, call EMS," the footage shows.

Bores made a call to EMS and stated that Brown was "bleeding from the throat."

The Austin Police Department investigates an incident on Research Boulevard in Northwest Austin in which a man died after an officer used a Taser on him on Oct. 3
Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman

After Brown said something, Simonton responded, "I'm not going to let you die." It was unclear exactly what Brown said.

Brown was eventually taken to a hospital by Austin-Travis County EMS medics and was pronounced dead shortly after 4 a.m. Brown's cause of death will be determined by the Travis County medical examiner's office.

When asked what happened to Brown's neck or why he was placed in handcuffs, the Austin Police Department said that no other information was available to be released.

A department spokesperson referred the American-Statesman to the Austin Police Department's General Orders, which stated that officers should apply medical aid to anyone needing it and that they should "take special care" when dealing with overly aggressive or violent people. The General Orders state that officers should "gain rapid control" of the person before transferring care to EMS.

Bores has been with the Austin Police Department for almost three years, while Simonton has been with the department for one year and eight months, the department's news release said. A third officer also arrived later and helped render aid.

The department will conduct two investigations into the incident: a criminal investigation by the Special Investigations Unit with the Travis County district attorney's office and an administrative one by the Internal Affairs Unit with oversight from the Office of Police Oversight.

Audio and video footage of the incident was released to the department's YouTube page.

The Austin Police Department investigates an incident on Research Boulevard in Northwest Austin in which a man died after an officer used a Taser on him on Oct. 3
Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman