Man fatally shot by Saginaw police had meth in his system, tox report shows

A 25-year-old man who ran through a residential neighborhood on Jan. 30 “growling” and beating up neighbors and police had amphetamine and methamphetamine in his system, a toxicology report released Wednesday showed.

Michael Dale Brown destroyed a front door, vandalized several cars and fought several people on Meadowdale Drive, police have said. Brown was hit twice by Tasers deployed by officers before he was fatally shot by a Saginaw police officer.

The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office released autopsy and toxicology reports. Brown had 1,521 ng/ml (nanograms per milliliter) of meth in his femoral blood, which is considered to be a toxic amount, according to the Journal of Forensic Toxicology and Pharmacology. The medical examiner’s office did not return a call seeking clarification of the findings.

Brown was pronounced dead at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth at 10:42 that night. In his clothes, a small plastic bag containing “clear crystal-like substance” was found, his autopsy report states.

The first 911 call that night came from the 700 block of Meadowdale Drive just before 10.

An elderly man stepped out of his house when he heard the commotion, and Brown reportedly struck him in the face and threw him to the ground. He then threw the man’s wife to the ground and beat her so badly she had to go to the intensive care unit of a hospital, Sgt. Damon Ing, a Saginaw police spokesman, had said.

Wednesday night, Ing said he didn’t know her health status.

Brown’s autopsy found “multiple contusions” on his knuckles.

The first officer to arrive, P.S. Navarro, 30, found Brown at 900 N. Old Decatur Road where he was walking southbound in the northbound lanes. As Navarro backed up his car, Brown continued “running/jogging” toward him, Ing said.

Navarro got out of his patrol car and started “backpedaling” with his Taser drawn while Brown chased him around the car, dash-cam video showed. The two struggled and Navarro was “beaten and knocked to the ground.”

Of two men who stopped to help Navarro, one was knocked to the ground while the other distracted Brown until officers D.W. Garretson, 32, and J.R. Stone, 36, arrived.

Garretson deployed a second Taser, and Stone fired four shots from a .45-caliber Glock, police said. Brown did not have a weapon.

Ing said the toxicology results are a piece of the ongoing criminal investigation into what happened that night.

Navarro and Stone were treated at a hospital and released that night.

Garretson returned to work the next day, Navarro is back on duty and Stone is on “light duty,” Ing said.

Brown’s city of residence has not been reported.

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 9:04 PM with the headline "Man fatally shot by Saginaw police had meth in his system, tox report shows."