The identity of a man who died in Sheriff’s Department custody soon after he was arrested in a Cardiff parking lot has been released Monday, as well as the names of the deputies involved in the arrest.
Abdul Kamara, 29, died hours after he was arrested on March 2 by deputies at a parking lot on Birmingham Drive near Villa Cardiff Drive and then put into restraints, San Diego police said.
San Diego Police Department homicide detectives are investigating the death due to a countywide protocol to keep agencies from investigating in-custody deaths involving their own officers .
In the hours leading up to Kamara’s death, Carlsbad police received a report around 9:10 p.m. that a man had asked for an ambulance at a restaurant on Carlsbad Village Drive west of Interstate 5, Lt. Jud Campbell said in a news release.
Officers arrived and determined the man, later identified as Kamara, needed to be taken to Scripps Encinitas hospital.
About two hours later, Scripps Encinitas staff called the San Diego Sheriff’s Department to tell them to check the area around the hospital after the man had walked away from the facility.
Around 11:55 p.m. deputies Alejandro Aguilera and Tyler Phillips were called to a parking lot on Birmingham Drive where Kamara was reported crawling around the lot with no shirt or shoes on, police said.
Kamara was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs and taken to the Vista Detention Facility for booking, Campbell said.
Before he could be booked, Kamara began throwing himself against the interior of the patrol car, injuring his face, and moved his handcuffs from behind him to his front, police said.
Deputies took Kamara out of the backseat, sat him on a bench and began fixing the handcuffs, Campbell said. He then stood up and began thrashing against the deputies trying to control him, the lieutenant said. A California Highway Patrol officer came over briefly to help restrain Kamara until more deputies arrived.
They applied a WRAP restraint device and called for paramedics.
After paramedics arrived, the man suffered a medical emergency, lost consciousness and stopped breathing. He was pronounced dead at a hospital around 4 a.m.
The Medical Examiner’s Office will determine his cause and manner of death.
The deputies who assisted at the Vista Detention Facility are Cpl. Christopher Aberle, assigned to the Vista jail and employed for approximately four years; Deputy Carlos Heard, assigned to Vista patrol and employed for about 5½ years; Deputy Travis Kaapke, assigned to Vista patrol and employed for roughly 4½ years; and Deputy Derrick Jones, assigned to Juvenile Court Services and employed for approximately 12½ years.
Aguilera and Phillips, who originally arrested Kamara, are assigned to North County Coastal patrol. Aguilera has been with the department for approximately eight years and Phillips has been employed for roughly 2½ years.
