As the Essex County District Attorney’s Office continues its investigation into the
death of a Haverhill man after a confrontation with police
earlier this month, officials have released new video showing the man’s movements through the city in the hours leading up to the incident.
During a press conference Monday morning, District Attorney Paul Tucker showed a 28-minute video compiled from surveillance footage in Haverhill and other
footage submitted by the public
of Francis Gigliotti, 43, walking and running down sidewalks and into streets on July 11 after
officials say he used recreational drugs
.
The video includes the physical struggle with seven police officers who stopped him from entering a seafood restaurant and restrained him on the ground until he became unresponsive, all the way up to the moments where emergency medical personnel began trying to save him.
The videos capture between 4 p.m. and shortly after 6 p.m. on the day, Tucker said.
The district attorney also released audio from a 911 call shortly after 6 p.m. from a person identifying themselves as a resident of an apartment building where Gigliotti is believed to have purchased the drugs, reporting that Gigliotti had fallen while exiting the building and was “running around all crazy” in the street.
Tucker said that while he would not “pre-judge” or draw any conclusions from the video at this point, the goal of releasing the video was to provide transparency into the investigation.
“There’s been so many questions,” he said. “This was the first piece of the investigation that I felt that the public had a right to see as quickly as we could get it out.”
In the video, Gigliotti, wearing a white shirt and hat, is seen walking around Haverhill beginning shortly after 4 p.m., according to Tucker. He enters an apartment building at 115 White St., and is next seen falling to the ground as he exits the building before getting up and running into and across the street.
Gigliotti was then recorded running down the street before meeting someone in a dark-colored SUV, who pulled over and stopped next to where Gigliotti was standing on the sidewalk. He walks to the back of the car, opens the trunk, lifts something up, then closes the trunk and runs away.
Tucker said law enforcement had identified the person driving the SUV, but could not share any other information about the interaction or the identity of the individual.
Gigliotti was also seen entering a liquor store, then coming out seconds later, where he met a person wearing a hooded gray sweatshirt in the parking lot.
The two were recorded greeting each other and Gigliotti appeared to attempt to pull the other person by the hand with him before they parted.
He was recorded on White and Winter Streets running back and forth into the street and back to the sidewalk, at several points coming close to moving vehicles.
Eventually, as Gigliotti was standing by a garbage can, a police cruiser with its lights on is seen on video pulling up to him. Two officers got out and began speaking to him, with one stopping Gigliotti from walking into the street at one point.
After speaking for a few minutes, Gigliotti ran from the two officers, according to the video. One officer chased him on foot and could be heard in the video calling his first name while the other officer got back into the police car.
Eventually, Gigliotti reached Bradford Seafood, a restaurant at 124 Winter St., and attempted to go inside. Police officers grabbed him right outside the door of the restaurant, pulling him away as he opened the door. Eventually, he could be seen falling to the ground while the seven officers, some in uniform, restrained him.
In the video, Gigliotti can be heard shouting and calling for help before eventually falling silent.
Bystanders, both caught on video and filming their own footage, could be heard talking about what was happening, including one who told the officers, “Be easy with that boy, he got issues,” and saying he didn’t think all of the officers were needed to restrain him.
As medical personnel arrived, the visual portion of the video was redacted, but the audio continued. A woman could be heard crying and saying, “Francis, no,” asking if he was breathing and telling EMS workers not to stop helping him.
Tucker could not confirm the woman’s identity.
Gigliotti was rushed to Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill, where he was pronounced dead at 7:21 p.m., MassLive previously reported.
Last week, police arrested Joseph Hurley and charged him with
selling crack cocaine
. Authorities say they believe Hurley sold Gigliotti drugs, which he smoked inside the White Street apartment building on the day of his death.
The seven police officers involved in the incident remain on paid administrative leave as the investigation continues.
The district attorney said Monday that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner had not yet determined a cause of death.
Tucker said that while the 28-minute video released Monday was edited for brevity, the full, approximately 90 minutes of footage his office has collected will eventually be released to the public, though he could not provide a timeline for when that would happen.
In a statement on Monday, Haverhill Mayor Melinda Barrett thanked the members of the public who provided images and video of the incident and the district attorney for the commitment to transparency, and expressed sympathy to Gigliotti’s friends and family.
“I recognize the community wants answers — and so do I,” she said. “But, as we heard this morning from the DA, this process will take time. While it may not move as quickly as many of us would like, I respect and support the need for a thorough investigation.”
“In moments like these, tensions can run high,” Barrett added. “I ask that we not lose sight of the fact that the men and woman of the Haverhill Police Department continue to serve this community with a deep commitment to public safety. Each day they respond to hundreds of calls of all types and severity across the city.”
