COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — Civil rights attorneys representing the family of Kevin Dizmang held a press conference Tuesday announcing a wrongful death suit against a Colorado Springs police officer and fire department paramedic.
The lawsuit names Sean Reed a Colorado Springs Police Officer, and Nick Fisher a Colorado Springs Fire Department Paramedic as the defendants in the suit.
According to the Colorado Springs Fire Department, Nick Fisher is no longer an employee of the department after he resigned on June 17, 2023.
According to CSPD, Officer Sean Reed is still with the department. However, Officer Reed is no longer assigned to the Critical Response Team, a choice he made himself according to the department. Officer Reed did not face any internal disciplinary action from this incident says CSPD.
Kevin Dizmang, 63, stopped breathing as an officer and paramedic working as part of the city's Critical Response Team (CRT) pulled him out of traffic and restrained him in November of 2022. Attempts to resuscitate Dizmang were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at Penrose Hospital.
A spokesman for the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office told News 5 in February of 2022 that the Deadly Force Investigation Team reviewed the incident and that the actions of the police officer and paramedic were reasonable.
The first video clip is roughly 36 minutes long and comes from the camera worn by CRT Officer Sean Reed.
The recording shows Officer Reed approaching Dizmang as he steps into the street on Mount View Drive. Reed orders Dizmang to sit down or put his hands behind his back.
Approximately 45 seconds into the recording, Reed grabs Dizmang's left arm and attempts to put him in handcuffs. Dizmang pulled away.
Dizmang shook himself out of Reed's grasp twice more before being tackled by CRT paramedic Nicholas Fischer.
While the men struggle to subdue Dizmang who is lying face down and seems to yell, "I'm down."
Reed gets a cuff around one of Dizmang's wrists and within seconds, Dizmang appears to lose consciousness.
Voices are heard in the recording saying, "Kevin, Kevin talk, say something."
Once he is fully cuffed, Reed instructs Fischer to help him roll Dizmang onto his side.
Jesse Sharp, a manager at the mobile home park where Dizmang lived, is heard in the video saying, "Kev, breathe for me Papa, Kev."
Sharp later explained to Reed that he and Justin Miller saw Dizmang walking into traffic on Mount View Lane and tried to help him.
Reed radioed for an ambulance. As the group waited he asked Fischer, "is he okay?"
Fischer's answer is difficult to hear because the police radio interrupts his reply.
"He's not aspirating," he appears to say.
Attorney Harry Daniels told News 5 that Dizmang's daughter hired him and Bakari Sellers to represent their interests in the case. He believes the Critical Response Team should help people in mental distress and not restrain them.
"You can see him, Mr. Dizmang's neck is in the armpits of the officer while he's applying pressure. Not the officer but this paramedic who is not trained by any capacity to engage in any such behavior," Daniels said.
The coroner's report classified Dizmang's death as a homicide.
"It is my opinion that Kevin Dizmang, a 63-year-old white male, died as a result of cardiopulmonary arrest in the setting of physical restraint, acute methamphetamine intoxication, COPD and asthma, cardiomegaly, diaphragmatic paralysis, and obesity," the report states.
Daniels released the second video, this recording is 5:39 and comes from another officer's body-worn camera recorded inside Penrose Hospital.
The video is blurred. However, Fischer can be heard describing the tackle to others.
"My first time taking somebody down with this job," he said. "And I was like, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Another clinician told me, she's like, go help him restrain him. I go to pull drugs out, and she's like, no, go help him, and I was like, oop high school football," he said the other men laugh.
"Good form homie," a voice can be heard saying to Fischer.
Daniels urged the community not to let this video dehumanize Dizmang.
"This is a family, okay," he said. "This is a father, a grandfather who was loved dearly by his family, by his grandchildren, and despite the fact that he came across some demons and had his issues, that does not negate the value of his life."
If you would like to read the lawsuit for yourself you can do so here.
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