[Article edited to add video from the El Paso Police Department’s YouTube.]

When Officers do a good job, we should support them in the case of Eddes, who died while in custody of EPPD, the Police are not at fault. 

4 May 2024, El Paso, Texas, Steven Zimmerman – We wrote about Jonathan Rose Eddens, who died while in police custody on 14 April 2023.

El Paso Police officers were dispatched at about 3:15 PM to perform a welfare check on Eddens, who was walking in and out of traffic along Alameda. 

Based on cellphone videos that KTSM, FitFam, and others have aired, here’s what we know about the incident.

The video shows four officers wrestling with Eddens on the sidewalk in front of an auto shop. As we have all seen from the video, additional officers arrived, and the struggle continued. Officers deployed their tasers during the battle to get Eddens to the ground.

We also know that Eddens died in custody at the hospital. FMS is called, as is procedure, when a taser is deployed.

When we first wrote about this, after receiving several emails from readers that this is a story of police brutality, I said we should exercise caution and wait for the El Paso Police Department to release a video of the incident. 

Based on the number of emails we have received, EPPD released the video.

Many readers feel that the officers used excessive use of force, and that may have contributed to Eddens death. 

“I reviewed the video you forwarded me,” says Officer Loya, who serves with another department within Texas, “and I have to agree with you; the officers were professional and did their best to de-escalate. Even with several tasers being deployed, I do not see excesive use of force. I agree with your ideas on this incident.”

I want to caution all who may read that it is easy for us to play armchair quarterback and say we would have done this or that. Neither you nor I were involved in this incident. 

The first responding officers were concerned for Eddens’ health and safety. He did not respond to them, backing away, and at one point looked as if he were ready to square off with the officer speaking to him. 

Once on the ground, Eddens fights and resists. Tasers were deployed, and Eddens was then transported to the emergency room to be evaluated. 

We don’t know if Eddens, who has a history of drug use, was on any illegal substances at the time, and that somehow contributed to his state of mind. We don’t know if he had that sudden burst of strength that drug addicts seem to have when the adrenalin starts pumping, and every officer reading this knows just what I’m talking about here. 

I will tell you this for full disclosure: I have lived in El Paso’s Lower Valley for years, near Alameda and Zaragoza, and I have encountered Eddens near Guardian Angel Catholic Church. The many was a handful then, so I can only imagine how he was, and what he may have allegedly been on, the afternoon of 14 April.

These officers, who responded to the call concerning Eddens, did their best and remained professional throughout the encounter. 

Yes, the Jerusalem Press has made it a mission to remove bad actors from the El Paso Police Department, but these officers did a great job here. 

Thank you for your work, officers. You are in our prayers.