At Least 16 People Died in California After Medics Injected Sedatives During Police Encounters | KQED

It was impossible for the AP to determine the exact role injections may have played in many of the 94 deaths involving sedation that reporters found nationally during the investigation’s 2012–2021 timeframe. Few of those deaths were attributed to the sedation and authorities rarely investigated whether injections were appropriate, focusing more often on the use of force by police and the other drugs in people’s systems.

The idea behind the injections is to calm people who are combative, often due to drugs or a psychotic episode, so they can be transported to the hospital. Supporters say sedatives enable rapid treatment while protecting frontline responders from violence. Critics argue that the medications, given without consent, can be too risky to be administered during police encounters.

California was among the states with the most sedation cases, according to the investigation, which the AP did in collaboration with FRONTLINE (PBS) and the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism.

Midazolam was given in 15 of the 16 California cases, all by paramedics outside of a hospital. The drug can cause respiratory depression, a side effect experts say may be dangerous when mixed with police restraint tactics that restrict breathing — or with alcohol or certain drugs that a person may already have consumed.

The 16th case involved a man injected with a similar class of drug, lorazepam, while police restrained him at a hospital in San Diego.

Two emergency room doctors in San Diego told the AP they have discussed switching to ketamine, which supporters say is safer and works faster than midazolam. But the doctors said negative headlines about ketamine, especially after deaths and misuse in Colorado, stalled that idea.