Video of Fort Bliss Soldier's Death in El Paso Jail Released

Video of Texas soldier shows moments before his death while in police custody 
OKCFOX.com
By: Austin Prickett, Sr. Digital Content Manager
Updated: May 15, 2015

(KFOX) – An active-duty Fort Bliss soldier self-reported for a two day DWI sentence at the El Paso County Jail in 2012 but died before he saw the light of day or his family again.

In July 2012, KFOX14 anchor Erika Castillo reported on the story of the mysterious circumstances surrounded the death of Sgt. James Brown while he was in jail.

KFOX14 fought all the way to the Texas attorney general to obtain the video to learn what happened to Brown before dying.

The graphic video obtained shows the moments before the death of Brown. Brown served two tours of combat duty in Iraq. 

The decorated 26-year-old was on active duty at Fort bliss in July 2012, when he left his family for the weekend to self-report for a two day DWI sentence at the El Paso County Jail.

When he checked in, jail records show that Brown reported in writing to the jail that he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress. Brown's mother said when her son checked into the jail, he contacted her.

"He said they're trying to make me stay seven days instead of two days, so i just want to pay the court fine and get out of here," said Dinette Robinson-Scott. Brown asked his mom to send the money to pay the fine in lieu of the jail time, which she did by the following morning. But by that time, something had gone terribly wrong.

The video shows at some point, Brown appeared to have an episode in his cell that caused him to bleed. It's not clear from where. When he refused to answer or speak to the jail guard, a team of guards in riot gear were brought in to storm his cell. From beginning to the end of the recording, Brown stated he could not breathe. read more here