DAYTON — The Dayton man at the center of a use of force investigation with the Dayton Police Department has died.
Antonio Lewis, 62, died Friday, Michael Wright, the attorney representing Lewis’ family, confirmed to News Center 7′s John Bedell.
A Dayton police crash report identified Lewis as the driver of a white Chevrolet SUV Dayton officers found damaged and with the airbag deployed Wednesday morning.
Officers were called out there after a 911 caller found the SUV unoccupied and smoking, News Center 7 previously reported. A preliminary investigation said Lewis was “negotiating the curve on Benning Place at an unknown speed,” according to the crash report. He then went off the north side of the road and hit two metal fences before stopping in Gillespie Park.
Chief Kamran Afzal said in a press conference Friday that a witness told the officers where the driver was and that he was yelling for help.
After finding Lewis, he told police that he needed help. He had an “obvious injury to his arm and his pants were torn.”
Afzal said that as officers waited for a medic, Lewis started to become agitated. As officers tried to help him, they said he “backed himself against a cruiser and balled up his fists.”
Body camera video shown during the press conference showed officers trying to handcuff the driver, but police claimed he resisted and a struggle began. At one point, the man was accused of grabbing one of the officers’ tasers. The officers were able to gain control and place the driver in handcuffs and fire personnel arrived on scene.
“Once he was secured, they had noticed he had lost consciousness,” Afzal said.
>> 1 dead after being hit by construction truck in Centerville
The officers turned him onto his side, otherwise known as a recovery position. As officers were moving him to a “better recovery position,” he regained consciousness.
Lewis was taken to a local hospital where what was believed to be drug paraphernalia was found in his possession, according to Afzal.
Lewis’ cause and manner of death have not been determined.
Dayton police identified both officers involved as Officers Chelsea Weitz and Dylan Lehotay. Neither officer is on leave pending the investigation.
The crash is also under investigation, but that investigation is separate from the one regarding the use of force.
Dayton Fire Department’s chief was at the press conference Friday afternoon and told News Center 7′s John Bedell that his department has also launched their own internal review
© 2023 Cox Media Group
