Family demands answers at Raleigh City Council after man dies in RPD custody

RALEIGH, NC (WTVD) -- Emotions were high at Raleigh City Council on Tuesday night as family members demanded answers about a man who died in Raleigh Police custody last month.

"This is not right. It's not human," said Andrea Jones, a spokesperson for the family of Curtis Mangum. "They're still human and you criminalize them before you humanize them and that's not fair."

Mangum was a 32-year old Raleigh father whose final hours were captured in two short Raleigh PD videos. One of the videos is a dash-cam recording on Rose Lane in southeast Raleigh where Mangum and three other men were pulled over by police.

In the video, Mangum is seen sitting on the curb, handcuffed and talking to officers.

RELATED: New video found of man who died in Raleigh police custody

He was arrested after police say they found what they suspected was marijuana; .5 grams of a rock-like substance thought to be cocaine; along with a fully-loaded semi-automatic handgun.

At 11:10 p.m., the arresting officer takes Mangum to RPD's Southeast District Station, where according to an initial report, Mangum was quieter and had trouble walking.

Eleven minutes later, surveillance video at the police station shows the arrival of paramedics.

By 2:40 a.m., Mangum was pronounced dead at WakeMed.

"I just wanna know what happened. I'm hearing this. I'm hearing that. And I don't know the truth," said Mangum's mother Betty Johnson, holding back tears outside City Council chambers.

Mangum's family said they have not received an autopsy report or cause of death. But RPD's initial report said the medical examiner did find a torn plastic bag inside his stomach.

Dextro White Jr., 40, was with Mangum in the car that night - and also arrested. He said his friend complained to police early on that he was having a medical emergency.

"For (police) not to get that man to the hospital, is like you conspired to kill that man," he said. "You held that man at Southgate Precinct until he died."

PACT - the Police Accountability Community Task Force - is assisting the family in its quest for more answers.

"They also strip-searched him continually while they knew he was unstable ..." said PACT legal specialist Kim Muktarian. "So they continued to treat him like a criminal versus a patient."

The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case. But the family is using this and others cases presented to City Council as more reason to create a community police oversight board.