Juneau Police Department on Friday released footage from an arrest attempt that sent a man to a Seattle hospital last month, announcing at the same time that the officer involved in the arrest had resigned on Thursday.
Brandon LeBlanc was identified by the department on Aug. 14 as the officer who was involved in a July 30 encounter with two people who police say were harassing another man. A woman was arrested and charged without incident, but video posted to social media shows LeBlanc holding a man against a patrol car before suddenly dropping down and flipping the man over his head and into the sidewalk — at which point the man is not seen moving for the remainder of the video.
The man was medevaced to a Seattle hospital the night of the encounter, on July 30. He has not been identified and no updates have been provided on his condition.
Police footage — four separate recordings from the body and dash cams of the two responding officers, accessible through a link posted to the department’s website at juneau.org/police — shows the interaction. LeBlanc and another officer were making an arrest of Marisa Didrickson, 47, in front of the Douglas Public Library at nearly 8 p.m. Didrickson, who is facing one count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct stemming from the incident, told the man who was injured to “take care of” a Black man she was allegedly harassing.
The second officer had responded first, and in his body-worn camera footage can be seen interacting with Didrickson, the man who was injured and the man reportedly harassed. LeBlanc doesn’t arrive until nearly 11 minutes after the other officer. He first helps handcuff Didrickson and then turns his attention to the other man.
LeBlanc first tells the man to “go before you go to jail too,” shoving him away. He then begins to arrest the man and places him against his patrol car.
“Hands behind your back,” LeBlanc can be heard shouting in the video. “I’m not going to tell you again. You ‘bout to get slammed.”
The man repeats only “I was walking” before being tossed to the sidewalk. The move cannot be seen in detail from LeBlanc’s body-worn camera, but is more clear from the dash camera of LeBlanc’s car — the officer shifts his hands around the man’s torso and falls backward into a move resembling a suplex.
The second officer comes over to assist and is the one who calls for medical support — “one unconscious, hit the ground.” The man isn’t seen moving for around eight minutes, though he can be heard breathing. The man does respond by coughing when presented with smelling salts by the second officer but does not regain consciousness.
LeBlanc says in the video he doesn’t know what part of the man’s head hit the sidewalk — he says he attempted a “suplex-type” move and that he hit the ground before the man did. The man wakes up around 12 minutes after hitting the ground, only moments after Capital City Fire and Rescue arrived with a stretcher. He is able to sit up, but the responding emergency medical technicians note “a pretty good head-wound” on the side of the man’s head.
In a release from the department that accompanied the video and included the announcement of LeBlanc’s resignation, City Manager Katie Koester says that “one incident” doesn’t define a Juneau Police Department “full of good and hardworking people who serve with professionalism, empathy and integrity.”
“This has been a painful event for our community,” she says. “The officer’s resignation reflects the seriousness of what occurred, and our obligation to uphold the standards of conduct our community expects. Accountability means not only reviewing the facts but acting on them.”
Koester in the release says that the department has been in contact with the family of the injured man but repeats that the department will decline to provide any information about his condition.
An independent third party investigation announced by Koester on Aug. 1 is ongoing, the release says.
Juneau Police Chief Derek Bos says in the release that the department is “already” reviewing its directives, policy and training on “de-escalation, proportionality in use-of-force, and medical response protocols.” The release says that the department will also participate in cultural sensitivity training and a “community dialogue” event co-hosted by the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.
More details about the training and dialogue event will be shared “in the coming weeks,” the release says.
“What happened on July 30 was not consistent with department policy, values or the conduct we expect from our officers,” Bos says in the release. “As Chief, I take responsibility for ensuring our department earns and maintains the public’s trust.”
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
