Lawyer representing Brandon Zapata’s family says they aren’t surprised by homicide ruling
The lawyer representing Brandon Zapata’s mother said they’re not surprised the 20-year-old’s death at La Gran Plaza in April was ruled a homicide.
Nate Washington told the Star-Telegram in a phone interview Tuesday that the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed what Zapata’s family already knew after video was released of the 20-year-old’s fatal encounter with security at the Fort Worth mall.
“Mothers, I think, know their children better than anyone,” Washington said. “And so, five months ago, Ms. (Gloria) Ortiz said to me, ‘He’s having an asthma attack. I’ve seen him have those asthma attacks before.’”
Last week the medical examiner listed Zapata’s manner of death as homicide and his cause of death as acute asthma exacerbation complicated by mechanical asphyxia and methamphetamine.
Zapata was restrained by security officers at La Gran Plaza on April 11. Police have said Zapata was “acting erratically,” and that is why security guards, including an off-duty Fort Worth officer, restrained him and put him in handcuffs.
A witness told the Star-Telegram that Zapata came into the mall yelling and asking for help and water. He was pounding on his chest and said he couldn’t breathe, according to the witness.
Cellphone video provided to the Star-Telegram by a witness also appears to show a man who was walking by stop to help the off-duty officer restrain Zapata, with both men kneeling on Zapata’s back at one point as they held him down and tried to handcuff him.
More Fort Worth police officers arrived around that time and body-camera footage shows Zapata groaning on the floor while lying face-down with his hands restrained above his head in handcuffs. About a minute-and-a-half later, he appeared to stop moving or making sounds as officers worked to handcuff him behind his back. After he was cuffed, an officer sat Zapata up and told him to breathe and “wake up.”
“Breathe, breathe,” the officer can be heard saying, in the video. After realizing Zapata was not responding, officers removed the handcuffs, laid him on the floor and began CPR. The officers providing first aid say a couple of times in the video that he has a pulse but it is weak. An officer is heard saying that he believes Zapata might have smoked something, and the officers attempt to give Zapata Narcan, the video shows.
Police said officers and paramedics tried to revive Zapata, but they were unsuccessful and he was officially pronounced dead at a local hospital less than an hour after the struggle began.
It took the medical examiner nearly six months to rule on Zapata’s death. Washington said he appreciates the time authorities took to hopefully be as methodical as possible in arriving at their conclusion.
“Everyone in his family says the same thing,” Washington said. “I ask them about Brandon (and) ... over and over and over and over again, the word I get is ‘sensitive.’ Just an incredibly sensitive young man who had an asthma attack. And somehow or another this asthma attack turned him into something vicious or someone dangerous, and he was just having an asthma attack like so many young people do.”
Ortiz filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Sept. 22 in Tarrant County against the companies that own and manage La Gran Plaza.
She is suing Town Center Mall L.P., Town Center Property LLC, Boxer Property Finance L.P., Grupo Zocalo L.P., Grupo Zocalo Management LLC, Boxer RE L.P. and Boxer GM L.P. Ortiz also is suing the two security guards, identified as John Doe Number One and John Doe Number Two in her lawsuit.
Representatives for the defendants could not be reached by phone on Tuesday.
Washington said they aren’t aware of any criminal investigation into Zapata’s death at this time, so they are planning to push the civil case forward.
When asked if the methamphetamine mentioned in the medical examiner’s report could have contributed to Zapata’s death, Washington said he didn’t think so, but he wouldn’t be qualified to give an answer.
“What we know for sure is that he had an asthma attack,” Washington said. “He was struggling for air. They pulled his arms behind his back and placed their knee on his back. That’s what we know for sure.”
The Fort Worth Police Department declined to comment on the ruling, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.
“All findings will be turned over to the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office for review and grand jury presentation, which is standard operating procedure for the Fort Worth Police Department,” a police spokesperson said in an Oct. 6 email to the Star-Telegram.
