End the use of “excited delirium” as a cause of death in police custody

Abstract

Black men in the USA are at least 2·5 times more likely than white men to be killed by police. 1 Edwards F Lee H Esposito M Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race-ethnicity, and sex. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2019; 116: 16793-16798 Google Scholar The killings of George Floyd, Daniel Prude, and Elijah McClain are among many that have stirred public outrage at systemic police violence against Black people. These men are also among the documented 166 people—43% of whom were Black—whose deaths in US police custody between 2010 and 2020 were attributed to “excited delirium” by death investigators, medical examiners, expert witnesses, lawyers, law enforcement, or first responders. 2 Obasogie OK Excited delirium and police use of force. Virginia Law Rev. 2021; 107: 1545-1620 Google Scholar This number is likely to be an underestimate because previous studies have highlighted under-reporting of police killings. 3 GBD 2019 Police Violence US Subnational CollaboratorsFatal police violence by race and state in the USA, 1980-2019: a network meta-regression. Lancet. 2021; 398: 1239-1255 Google Scholar