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Family of man who died in Sac PD custody plead for answers

"No one gave me no paperwork. No one told me why he died. They still won't let me see him."
Credit: Courtesy ABC10.
The mother and brother of Brandon Smith, the man who died in Sacramento Police custody on June 6, held a press conference pleading for answers in thie case.

The family of a man who died in the custody of Sacramento Police held a press conference, Wednesday, pleading for answers.

Brandon Smith died in the back of a Sacramento police wagon on June 6, while in the custody of parole agents, who had asked a marked Sacramento police vehicle to transport him to jail. According to the family, Smith was handed off to a parole agent to be taken to a housing facility, not to be transported to jail.

“I’m very upset. I’m very angry. I took my son, handed him over to his parole officer. She promised my son would be transported to a housing facility. I dropped him off at 11 o’clock. I get a call at 3:32 saying my child is dead,” said Smith’s mother, Yolanda Ford.

Since the incident, the family says they have not been told how Smith died, and they say they have not been allowed to see his body.

“No one gave me no paperwork. No one told me why he died. They still won’t let me see him,” Ford said.

“The coroner’s office is not allowing us to see him. We don’t have any answers. They’re not releasing a cause of death, even though they have done an autopsy,” Smith’s younger brother, Brionne Mays, said during the press conference.

On Wednesday, June 13, police released audio and video, including two in-car cameras and two body cam recordings, showing the altercation. Authorities also issued a press release detailing their account.

Footage of the incident had not yet been released at the time of the family’s press conference.

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