Do you think there was excessive force in the death of SGT James Brown?

SGT. Brown was a Soldier in my battalion at Fort Bliss when I was the CSM. There is much more to the story than you all know. SGT Brown was struggling with some family problems along with some PTSD. He was getting back on track and the battalion leadership was supporting him to the fullest (one of the reasons he turned himself in).

SGT. Brown was suffering from Sickle Cell Anemia (or a form of). It was undiagnosed and he was unaware he had the disease. There was a possible reaction to medication that was given to him while in custody which may have caused his strange behavior. The coroner conducted an autopsy and stated SGT. Brown died from "natural causes" pointing to the sickle cell.

All memorial services are hard but this one was one of the toughest I have ever done. SGT. Brown was a good person that was recovering from some bad times. If there is anything uncovered in continuing investigations I truly hope that the family get the justice they deserve.

That is a brutal video and a very sad episode, 1SG (Join to see). I think SGT Brown needed professional medical (and probably psychological) help, not six police officers subduing him. I get that the police are doing their job, but in my opinion he probably needed to be in a mental hospital, not a jail.

I saw something like this in person recently - thankfully it didn't end in anyone's death - but the person in question needed (and received) the mental health care they needed. The police stayed away and allowed the family to handle the situation (outside of jail, obviously).

That episode, the one i witnessed, opened my eyes a lot to the issues of mental illness. It didn't make any sense, but the individual was acting out, as they say. They were not in control of themselves, so someone had to take control. In the case I witnessed, just the presence of the police calmed the person right down, but I'm sure there are a thousand different ways that people react.

I'm very sorry that this man lost his life, for no apparent reason. And I'll close by saying that I am generally a supporter of the police. This was a tragedy that I think probably could have been avoided.

Regardless of what everyone is saying this soldier needed medical attention and did not get it giving him water and a shot to calm him down is not medical assistance you can get that at Sick Call. I observe them filming everything I didn't notice no one call a ambulance to rush him to the hospital not until they watch this young soldier die.