Three Syracuse police officers will not face criminal charges in the 2023 death of a man they restrained before ambulance personnel sedated him, the state attorney general’s office announced Monday.
The Office of Special Investigation concluded in its newly released report that prosecutors could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers caused the death of Alex Rivera, 23, following the May 31, 2023, encounter on Teall Avenue.
The Onondaga County medical examiner determined that Rivera died of acute intoxication involving fentanyl and related substances, cathinone and xylazine, and classified the death as accidental.
An independent forensic pathologist agreed with that determination and found that neither handcuffing nor prone restraint caused or significantly contributed to the death, while raising concerns about administering ketamine to someone whose other drug exposure is unknown.
The investigation reviewed police body-camera recordings, emergency calls, witness accounts, officers’ statements, ambulance and hospital records, and autopsy and toxicology findings.
The first 911 call came at about 2:08 a.m. and described a man barricaded in a bathroom, damaging property and injuring himself, with subsequent calls reporting continued problems and a possible mental health crisis.
Officers Simon Greenfield, Winston Wiseth and Brett Traupman responded shortly after 4 a.m. and found Rivera on the bathroom floor, according to the report.
The officers described a cramped bathroom containing garbage and uncapped needles, and said they handcuffed Rivera to get him outside for medical help after he did not stand or walk out.
Body-camera footage showed officers carrying Rivera outside at about 4:15 a.m., then restraining him on the lawn with their hands, feet and knees as ambulance personnel approached and treated him, the report said.
American Medical Response paramedic Jacob Noble injected 250 milligrams of ketamine into Rivera’s thigh at about 4:20 a.m. while responders held him on his side.
The report’s account of the recordings describes Rivera subsequently being held face-down, with pressure applied to his back, shoulders and legs, and records him saying he needed water and that he could not breathe.
Rivera began vomiting, and Noble placed a mesh spit hood over his head before responders moved him to a stretcher and into the ambulance, according to the report.
Noble told an officer that his medical director did not want a spit hood used and that he had written his own protocol for it, the report’s description of the body-camera footage states.
The hood was removed inside the ambulance, and officers repositioned the handcuffs to the sides of the stretcher so ambulance personnel could assess him.
Ambulance records described labored breathing, vomiting and then agonal breaths, followed by CPR and other resuscitation efforts assisted by police and Syracuse firefighters.
Rivera was taken to Upstate University Hospital and pronounced dead at 5 a.m.
Medical examiner Dr. Dianne Vertes said Rivera had lethal amounts of fentanyl and xylazine in his system and that the external injuries found during the autopsy were superficial and did not cause his death.
Vertes told investigators she could not comment on how ketamine interacted with the other drugs in Rivera’s system.
The independent pathologist, Dr. Alfredo Walker, said introducing ketamine into a mix of respiratory depressants and stimulants increased the risk of a fatal outcome, although its precise effect in Rivera’s case could not be determined.
Walker also warned that spit hoods can hinder monitoring and impair breathing when clogged with blood or vomit, but concluded that the hood did not significantly contribute to Rivera’s death.
The officers provided written statements, but their union representative declined investigators’ requests for follow-up interviews, and Noble and AMR emergency medical technician Edward Armstrong did not respond to interview requests, according to the report.
The office concluded that the evidence did not indicate excessive police restraint, finding that the officers did not kick, punch, choke or strike Rivera or appear to keep him prone longer than necessary for the treatment ambulance personnel had chosen.
Its decision closes the investigation without charges against the three officers because the evidence could not establish the criminal requirement that their actions caused the death beyond a reasonable doubt.
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