6 hours of police bodycam video reveal a Baltimore man’s final moments

Darreonna Davis

The Baltimore Banner

August 27, 2025

Body camera footage released Wednesday shows Baltimore Police officers wrestling to control 31-year-old Dontae Melton Jr. as he begged for help, repeatedly shouting “I can’t breathe!” in the minutes before he became “unresponsive” during an encounter when medics never responded.

Melton died in the early hours of June 25, and the Maryland Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division is investigating his death in Baltimore Police custody and the 10 officers involved.

Officer Gerard Pettiford Jr., a seven-year Baltimore Police veteran, was parked in his cruiser at the intersection of Franklintown Road and West Franklin Street when Melton approached him around 9:40 p.m. June 24. Melton seemed hysterical, yelling that someone was chasing him, and pulled at Pettiford’s door.

“Bro, please, bro, please. It’s an emergency,” said Melton, wearing a dark gray shirt and gray Adidas shorts and sneakers.

Melton asked Pettiford to take him to the precinct because someone was chasing him and that person was hiding behind his police car. Melton agreed to get in an ambulance and go to the hospital upon Pettiford’s suggestion.

Pettiford called for a medic, but Melton became scared again. He’s seen running into the street away from the officers — and away from the person he believed was chasing him.

Around 9:44, Pettiford struggled to restrain Melton. Pettiford called for backup, and, within minutes, several cops were working to put Melton in handcuffs and leg shackles.

Officers Darren Hicks, Ryan Stetser, Jacob Dahl, Andre Smith and Renardo Spencer were among the officers who arrived on the scene to help restrain Melton. Smith, a 17-year veteran of the police force, brought the shackles but shortly left the scene. Spencer brought the handcuffs that were used to restrain Melton.

A bystander is overheard trying to console Melton, affirming that he was watching the police and officers were trying to help him. Melton can be heard screaming and wailing. He said he couldn’t breathe. He’s seen moving his body to break free of the cuffs and shackles. He attempted to bite officers and cursed at them.

Dahl asked for a red man helmet, or protective headgear, just before 9:50 p.m. and placed it on Melton. Officers struggled to decide what to do with Melton. Should they put him in the car or wait for the medic?

“Where is this medic? This is insane,” Dahl said. “His pulse is crazy hot. I can feel it in his elbow.”

They tried putting him in the police car around 10 p.m., but Dahl told Sgt. Joshua Jackson, an eight-year veteran of the Baltimore Police Department, that Melton felt like dead weight and was not standing on his own. In the footage, Melton seems to be breathing, but his eyes are partially shut. The officers sat him on the front right tire of one of the police cars instead.

“We got a medic coming for you, all right,” Officer Kevin Causion said. “Stay with us, bro.”

Dahl went inside the nearby 7-Eleven to buy two bottles of water around 10:08 p.m. He and Causion poured cold water on Melton.

“I’m not a medic, but that seems correct,” Dahl said.

Around 10:12 p.m., Pettiford called again for the medic, mistakenly saying Melton was unconscious. Pettiford meant to say Melton was unresponsive. Melton was still breathing, officers noted, but very shallowly.

At 10:15, officers picked Melton up to put him in the police cruiser for transport to the nearest hospital. Spencer grabbed Melton’s feet, and Causion grabbed his arms. The cops struggled to secure Melton in the car.

“Oh sh*t,” Pettiford said around 10:18 p.m. “He’s unconscious now.”

Officers laid Melton’s body on the ground near the car after they struggled to place him in.

“I didn’t do this, man. He came up on me. Can’t blame this on me, man,” Pettiford said.

Officers placed Melton’s head on the curb. They had reservations about transporting Melton because his limp body would have been unsupported.

The Edmonson Avenue fire station is a two-minute drive from where Melton’s body lay, and officers surrounded him, wondering what to do, waiting for a medic who never came.

“I could’ve made a smoke signal by now that would have gotten the fire department here,” Dahl said. “I could have probably gone to the fire department.”

Dahl noticed and alerted Sgt. Jackson that Melton’s breathing was getting shallower and he needed to go to the hospital. By 10:25 p.m., Jackson made the call he’d been holding off on: “Let’s get him in the car.”

“It’s crazy because this puts the onus on us now,” Jackson said. “Let’s put him in the car. Let’s get him down there by any means, and then we’ll figure it out.”

Officers Causion, Ever Cardenas-Huarcaya, Spencer and Stetser placed Melton into one of the cruisers for transport.

“Yo, he’s like not really breathing,” Stetser, a one-year veteran of the force, said.

Causion drove, another officer rode shotgun and Cardenas-Huarcaya held Melton’s body up in the backseat of the police car as he was transported to Grace Medical Center.

Officers Spencer and Jammal Parker jumped in separate cruisers and drove to Grace Medical Center on West Baltimore Street with their sirens blasting. Officers left the scene around 10:27 p.m. and arrived at the hospital with Melton around 10:29 p.m.

Medical personnel urged officers to get Melton out of the handcuffs and leg shackles. He’s seen with his mouth open in a wheelchair before medical personnel moved him to a stretcher and hauled him in at 10:30 p.m.

“Instead of compassion, he was handcuffed, taken to the ground and left waiting nearly 50 minutes for necessary medical aid while an ambulance never came. The hospital was less than three minutes away, yet no officer drove him there until it was far too late,” Larry Greenberg, the attorney representing Melton’s family, said in an email. “This was a preventable tragedy.”

Representatives of Lodge No. 3 of the Fraternal Order of Police, the union representing many Baltimore Police officers, did not respond to requests for comment.

Baltimore Police officer-involved deaths

Melton’s death involving Baltimore Police was one of three that happened within days of each other.

On June 17, Bilal Abdullah, a 36-year-old arabber in West Baltimore, was fatally shot in the 1700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue after firing at and running from officers. He had flashed a weapon and made threats to people in the area earlier that day, police said, which is why they were pursuing him.

Melton died around 3 a.m. on June 25. Hours later, Pytorcarcha Brooks, 70, was fatally shot by Baltimore Police officers in her Mosher home.

Police were responding to calls for a wellness check and broke down Brooks’ door when denied entry. Brooks is seen in body camera footage charging toward officers with a knife. One ineffectively shocked her with a Taser and, when she rose again, another fatally shot the woman.

The first person who died at the hands of Baltimore Police this year was 26-year-old Jai Marc Howell, whom officers shot after he ran from and fired at them in the 4600 block of York Road in May.

Representatives of the Baltimore Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.