Overview
- Brentwood police published redacted body-worn camera video and 911 audio from the September detention of 72-year-old Yolanda Ramirez after first offering the family a private viewing.
- The footage shows officers handcuffing Ramirez during a response to a family dispute, placing her in a patrol car, and later recognizing a medical emergency before paramedics transported her to a hospital, where she died a week later.
- Family attorney Melisa Nold says the video supports claims that officers struck Ramirez’s head and shoved her into the cruiser, while police have asserted there is no sign of an impact from the opposite door closing.
- Medical findings conflict, with a family-funded autopsy calling the death a homicide from blunt-force trauma and asphyxiation, and the Contra Costa County coroner ruling natural causes.
- The family’s wrongful-death and federal civil-rights suits remain pending, and the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office is conducting an active investigation as relatives demand the original unedited footage and potential charges against Officer Aaron Peachman.