FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Broward County judge ruled on Tuesday that video related to the death of a man who was injured while in the custody of correction deputies must be released to the family attorneys, but not to the public.
Broward Circuit Judge Keathan Frink released the Broward Sheriff’s Office surveillance video to the attorneys representing Kevin Lavira Desir’s family in accordance with a confidentiality agreement.
“The Desir video is a public record, and just because BSO has taken a public record and put it in their file does not make it anything other than a public record,” Attorney Greg Lauer said during the hearing.
Desir, 43, was arrested Jan. 13 on charges of marijuana possession and criminal mischief. There was a clash with deputies that left him unconscious on Jan. 17 and he died on Jan. 27 at the hospital.
During his testimony on Tuesday, Desir’s brother Mikeco Desir said he was at the hospital’s main entrance when a deputy told him he had died. The family later learned Kevin Desir had suffered a head injury.
“I want the cell extraction. I want the placement in the chair, and I want the very short time afterwards when ... CPR was being done,” Lauer said. “That’s it!”
The Broward Sheriff’s Office is conducting a homicide investigation. According to BSO, Desir was in a restraint chair after he cut himself and he lost consciousness during the exchange with deputies at the Broward County Jail in Pompano Beach.