Two University of Cincinnati police officers involved in a colleague's recent fatal shooting of Samuel DuBose also were on hand for a 2010 struggle with a psychiatric patient who later died.
Officers Eric Weibel and Phillip Kidd were among seven University of Cincinnati police officers and other officials named in a lawsuit alleging the wrongful death of Kelly Brinson, a 45-year-old mentally ill university hospital patient. Hospital staff summoned officers to help subdue Brinson, who became agitated when put in seclusion, according to court documents first reported by The Guardian. Kidd and Weibel gave written statements that they restrained Brinson, while another officer used a Taser stun gun on him.
Brinson went into cardiac arrest and died days later, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. The Hamilton County coroner ruled Brinson died from natural causes. His family settled the lawsuit for $638,000.
Documents from the Brinson lawsuit are available online.
Both officers also were involved in the July 19 traffic stop that led to the death of DuBose. Kidd gave statements to investigators that he saw DuBose, 43, drive away and drag Officer Ray Tensing before Tensing shot the motorist. Weibel wrote in a report that Tensing's uniform looked like he'd been dragged.
Footage from Tensing's body camera, however, appeared to show that DuBose wasn't driving away when the officer shot him, as Tensing and Kidd had claimed.
Kidd and another officer who testified before a grand jury in the DuBose investigation are on administrative leave while the probe continues. Weibel didn't claim to witness the shooting, and the department hasn't announced any discipline against him.
Tensing, 25, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of murder and voluntary manslaughter. He claims he fired his gun because he feared for his life.
In addition to Brinson and DuBose, two other black men have died in altercations with the university's police force since 1997.
Neither university police nor a lawyer for Brinson's family responded to HuffPost's inquiries.