Injured man improving after altercation with Brooksville police, chief says
BROOKSVILLE — The condition of Phillip Glenn Napier, hospitalized after a violent altercation with Brooksville Police on Sept. 13, has improved, police Chief George Turner said.
Napier, who fought with two officers who were called to remove him from his grandmother’s house, was in intensive care at Bayfront Health Brooksville following the incident.
He suffered respiratory and renal failure, as well as a drug overdose, Turner said days after the confrontation.
This week, Turner said Napier’s condition was “improving” and that he had been “moved around” to different medical locations.
“He’s not as bad off as originally reported by the family,” Turner said, referring to family statements that Napier had been near death. “I don’t have access to the records, but it’s not as dire as first reported.”
Napier, who has a history of arrests in Hernando County, mostly on traffic and drug charges, was uncooperative when Sgt. Josh Caldwell and Officer Joseph Nelson answered the call at 7110 Daffodil Drive shortly before 9 p.m., Sept. 13, Turner has said.
Police said Napier’s grandmother called because she thought he was using drugs and she did not want him there. When officers arrived, Napier, 38, was locked inside a shed at the home in the Southway Villa III community, records said.
Turner said a stun gun officers used to subdue Napier did not lead to his breathing failure. That condition likely was due to drugs in his system and, if not for prompt medical assistance at the scene, Napier could have died, Turner said.
“We brought him back,” the police chief said.
Doctors found methamphetamine and marijuana in Napier’s system, said Turner, who has cleared Caldwell and Nelson.
An initial dart or darts from an officer’s stun gun that struck Napier in the forearm did not affect him, Turner said. The gun’s cartridges fell out and Napier was “dry stunned” a few times at close range, which also did not subdue him, the chief said.
Dry stunning occurs when the weapon is placed on a person’s skin with the intent of incapacitating without darts.
At one point, Napier tried to wrestle a stun gun away from an officer, Turner said. Contrary to a witness statement, Turner said, his officers did not use a stun gun on Napier after he was handcuffed.
The witness, neighbor James Fretwell, said that he called to Napier during his struggle with police.
“Calm down, sir. You will not win. Quit resisting the officers,” Fretwell said.
Turner said an arrest warrant will be served whenever napier is “back on the street.”
“Right now, we’re not doing anything with it,” he said. “We want to let Mr. Napier be treated.”
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