Officer Exchanged Personal Texts as Detainee Passed Away in Police Car

A police officer is accused of sending intimate texts and watching TikTok videos while a man suffering from a mental health crisis overdosed in the backseat of his police cruiser. 

Nathan Bradford Smith, 33, died last July after he was arrested by the Coos Bay Police Department in Oregon for disorderly conduct while appearing to be high on methamphetamine, according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of his family. 

Officers interacted with Smith twice that day before they discovered him lying on the sidewalk in front of a Motel 6.

The first time was around 11 am when they took Smith’s meth pipe, and the second was around 3 pm when they responded to a report that he was screaming outside of a business and scaring customers. 

Officers Benjamin Martin, Tristan Smith, and Wesley O’Connor came in contact with the man a third time when he was lying on a sidewalk in front of the motel around 5 pm. 

Attorneys representing Smith’s family argue that body camera footage shows that responding officers treated him ‘aggressively’ even though he didn’t resist arrest.

O’Connor is heard over the radio stating, ‘Get your hand away from me you weirdo,’ during the arrest.

O’Connor was also seen putting his weight on Smith’s left shoulder and grabbing his left wrist during the arrest. 

Nathan Bradford Smith, 33, died after police arrested him for disorderly conduct. His family now alleges that officers acted negligently when he was in their care 

Officers Benjamin Martin, Tristan Smith, and Wesley O’Connor (pictured) are named in a new wrongful death lawsuit filed by Bradford Smith’s family 

Smith’s family alleges that Officer Martin scrolled on TikTok and responded to intimate messages while he had a medical emergency in the backseat of a police vehicle 

The lawsuit accuses the officers of neglecting Smith’s mental state and arresting him instead.

Smith struggled to move his body, and his breath was rapid and exaggerated when he entered the police vehicle, according to the lawsuit.

The officers are accused of not providing medical care to Smith while he was gasping for air with his eyes closed in the backseat. 

Dash camera footage showed Smith slumping in the backseat of the car. When Martin arrived at the police department, he allegedly sprayed his vehicle with air freshener and abandoned Smith in the car with the windows closed. 

‘While in CBPD headquarters, Defendant [Martin] scrolled on his phone, reviewed and responded to intimate text messages, and looked at TikTok for several minutes,’ the lawsuit states. 

As the officer allegedly scrolled on his phone inside the department, Smith was ‘shaking uncontrollably and gasping for breath’ in the vehicle. 

Officer Martin scrolled through TikTok and responded to a text message that read, ‘I’m so ready for snuggles I feel like i haven’t seen you in a week,’ Oregon Live reported, citing a police report. 

Martin then checked on Smith in the vehicle and found him unconscious. He then allegedly performed ‘sternal rubs’ and administered Narcan. 

Martin found Smith unconscious in the backseat after he allegedly left him in the vehicle to go inside the station 

Smith’s family alleges that if the officers had taken him straight to the hospital instead of back to the station, he would’ve received treatment before his death 

About 20 minutes after Smith was first placed in the vehicle, ambulances arrived and treated him on the scene before departing for a local hospital. 

Less than 45 minutes later, Smith died after a cardiac arrest. His cause of death was listed as hyperthermia due to meth intoxication and wearing multiple layers of heavy clothing. 

The hospital where Smith died was under two miles from where he was arrested, but the police officers decided to take him in the opposite direction to the department.

The lawsuit alleges that police officers delayed getting Smith medical care for over 40 minutes, which was a crucial lapse in time that ultimately led to his death. 

Smith’s family argues that officers could’ve saved his life had they taken him straight to the hospital instead of leaving him in the backseat alone in a police vehicle.

Smith suffered a cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at a local hospital. The lawsuit alleges that officers delayed medical care for over 40 minutes 

The lawsuit stated that Smith was ‘clearly suffering physically, mentally, and emotionally’ during his arrest 

‘In his final moments in Defendant Martin’s vehicle, gasping for air while Defendant Martin scrolled TikTok, Mr. Smith was clearly suffering physically, mentally, and emotionally. His death from hyperthermia likely caused him great physical pain and distress,’ the lawsuit states. 

The three officers are facing claims of negligence and the abuse of a vulnerable person. 

Daily Mail reached out to the Coos Bay Department Chief of Police for comment on the lawsuit and additional information on the officers’ current employment. 

Smith’s father, Kurt, told Oregon Live that police came to his work to notify him of his son’s death. 

He added that police didn’t share the circumstances of how his son died but instead he was forced to learn about the cause of death from the funeral home. 

The police department hasn’t commented on the allegations in the lawsuit. An attorney representing Smith’s family said that the officers ‘neglected their duty’ to get him proper care 

In an investigative report, Martin claimed that there were ‘no officers available to monitor Nathan’ while he was inside the station, and he left him in the vehicle to call another officer during a shift change.  

‘This lawsuit shines a light on the police’s inappropriate responses to people in health emergencies,’ Hannah Bland, a staff attorney with the Civil Rights Project, who is representing Smith’s family, told Daily Mail.

‘These officers are first responders and yet they neglected their duty to get Mr. Smith—a person in their custody—to the hospital when he was exhibiting clear signs of medical distress. 

‘Instead of calling for an ambulance, Officer Martin spent this crucial time scrolling TikTok while Mr. Smith was overheating and gasping for air in the back of his police car.’