Alabama man’s death is ruled a homicide after police kneeled on his neck

The death of an unarmed 52-year-old man who died after an Alabama police officer kneeled on his neck was ruled a homicide by a county coroner, according to an official autopsy reviewed by The Associated Press. The finding led lawyers representing Phillip Reeder’s family on Monday to compare his death to that of George Floyd in 2020.

The report issued by the Jefferson County medical examiner’s office concludes Reeder, of Irondale, Alabama, died last August of heart failure “associated with cocaine use and restraint during altercation.”

Officers in the Alabama suburb 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Birmingham were dispatched to a local highway just after 5 a.m. on August 6, 2024, after one of Reeder’s colleagues called 911 to report a medical emergency, according to Reeder’s wife, Sandra Lee Reeder. Phillip Reeder, who owned a construction company, was driving home from a job in Memphis, Tennessee, she said.

At the time, police said Reeder was wandering in and out of traffic when they approached him, according to AL.com.

Body camera video of Reeder’s death has not been released publicly, but Sandra Lee Reeder and her attorneys said they reviewed it last week. A 2023 state law that governs release of police recordings says the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency may choose to not disclose the recording if it would affect an active law enforcement investigation.

An email seeking comment from the Irondale police chief was sent Monday morning.

Sandra Lee Reeder said that the body camera footage shows her husband running from police when they arrived. Police then shocked Reeder with a Taser, placed him in handcuffs and laid him on his stomach, she said. One officer put his knee on Reeder’s neck for over three minutes, she said.

Sandra Lee Reeder said her husband can be heard saying “I can’t breathe” three times.

The autopsy said Reed had multiple non-leathal wounds and bruising from the attempted arrest by the police. Sandra Lee Reeder said she could see he was bleeding from his face in the video.

Reeder was unresponsive when the officer rolled him over onto his back, according to the coroner’s report. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital just after 6:30 a.m.

Harry Daniels, an attorney for the Reeder family, compared the fatality to the death of George Floyd in 2020, which prompted months of protests and widespread scrutiny over police tactics.

“This world was captivated and shocked about what happened in 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2024, the exact same thing happened,” Daniels said at a news conference outside Irondale City Hall on Monday.

Daniels said that the only difference between what happened to Reeder and Floyd is race: Reeder was white and Floyd was Black. Reeder may have committed misdemeanor disorderly conduct by wandering into traffic, but “it is not warranted for a knee in the back — that is deadly force,” he said.

Reeder’s two sons said that they also reviewed the body camera video of their father’s last moments this month after almost a year of asking the local police department and state agency for more information.

“What I have gone through these past 11 months should not happen to any 19-year-old,” Zachariah Phillip Reeder said.

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Riddle reported from Montgomery, Alabama. She is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.