SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — The man on life support after being arrested by Sacramento County deputies earlier this month has died, according to the man’s family and a spokesperson for the Sacramento County Coroner.
Deputies arrested 48-year-old Sherrano Stingley around 5:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 6 outside a home in the 7500 block of Whisperwillow Drive, just a few blocks from Stockton Boulevard and Gerber Drive.
A Dec. 8 news release from the sheriff’s office, which includes a link to body camera video of the arrest, claims the resident called to report someone under their work vehicle and feared the person was stealing their catalytic converter.
Stingley’s family says that's not what he was doing. His daughter, Dymin, says Stingley was having a mental health crisis and trying to find his way to her house and vehicle, which are just down the block from where Stingley was arrested. He sought refuge in her car in the past, she said.
“He wanted to make it home to me. That’s it," Dymin told ABC10.
When deputies arrived at the home of the 911 caller, they encountered Stingley in the front patio area, where they tried to detain him. Deputies ordered him to the ground and he complied.
At that point, the sheriff’s office says “as the deputy approached him to place him in handcuffs, the subject wrapped himself around the deputy’s legs and attempted to bring him to the ground.”
Deputies spent about three minutes trying to get Stingley in handcuffs, pinning him to the ground to get his hands behind his back. By about the fourth minute of the encounter, Stingley appeared in the body camera video to be unconscious. That was around 5:45 a.m.
Dymin shared a video she took on the scene with ABC10, timestamped 6:03 a.m., showing paramedics working on her dad. She worries they came too late.
Stingley was transported to Kaiser Permanente’s South Sacramento campus, where he was on life support. His condition was so “grim,” as the sheriff’s office news release put it, on the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 7, a judge granted the sheriff’s office’s request for a so-called “compassionate release…so that his family could be with him and consult with his doctors regarding medical decisions.”
A spokesperson for the Sacramento County Coroner said Stingley’s official time and date of death are 2:45 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 16. Dymin says her father’s body was taken from the hospital by the coroner on Sunday, Dec. 18.
“I’m only 20. I should have my dad,” Dymin told ABC10 Monday. “We’re having a hard time. My children are asking for their (grandpa).”
“The cause and manner of death is pending examination and other ancillary tests (to be determined by the Forensic Pathologist),” the Coroner’s spokesperson told ABC10. “There is no typical timeline for examinations. It varies case by case.”
The sheriff’s office's Dec. 8 news release states, “Once at the hospital, doctors determined the suspect had cocaine, meth, Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and prescription methamphetamine in his system and had experienced a serious medical emergency while exerting himself during the fight.”
ABC10 asked a sheriff’s office spokesperson Monday if there are factors that determine whether a suspect’s medical information becomes part of a news release. A supporter of the family raised the concern to ABC10 information like that is typically private to a patient. ABC10 is waiting to hear back from the sheriff’s office.
Deputies were not responding to a mental health call, but family and advocates say they believe deputies went too far and could have instead deescalated the situation after Stingley initially got on the ground. Dymin points to a moment in the body camera video - about 6:18 into the YouTube video - when one of the deputies appears to hit her dad in the head. ABC10 asked the sheriff’s office Monday about that moment in the video and is waiting to hear back.
Dymin also shared video from another neighbor’s security camera. It shows Stingley running into the neighbor’s yard. He appears to be talking to himself and gesturing off into the distance. He then gets into an unlocked car in the driveway, where he seems frantic and confused. He stays in the vehicle for less than a minute before running off to the next yard, leaving the car door open. It was minutes before Stingley’s arrest outside another home, according to the timestamp on the security video. Dymin says this supports her point that her dad was having a mental health crisis and trying to find her home and car.
Dymin and Black Lives Matter Sacramento founder Tanya Faison, who is advocating for the Stingley family, say they want to see more than just the one body camera angle released by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. ABC10 asked a sheriff’s office spokesperson Monday about whether more body camera video will be released and we are waiting to hear back.
Stingley’s family and supporters believe deputies used a TASER against him. At the end of the body camera video released by the sheriff’s office (9:23 into this video), a deputy can be seen picking up a TASER with its electrodes and coils unfurled.
ABC10 asked the new sheriff, Jim Cooper, about that last week. He declined to comment.
ABC10 asked a sheriff’s office spokesperson Monday whether a TASER was deployed against Stingley and we are waiting to hear back.
“My father is no longer with us and I’m still asking for justice for him," said Dymin. "It's a big deal."
Stingley's family is raising money for a memorial service and independent autopsy. That site is HERE.
WATCH MORE: A father arrested by Sacramento County Deputies remains in 'grim condition' | To The Point
