Man, arrested for drug possession, dies in custody

A man, arrested Wednesday evening for drug possession and attempting to escape while in police custody, has died.

The man "suffered medical distress" en route to the Sarasota County Jail, according to a release from the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office. The sheriff’s office is investigating the incident.

John Paul Kaafi, 33, was arrested by the Sarasota Police Department for possessing cocaine, spice and drug paraphernalia. Following that arrest, Kaafi escaped out of the window of a patrol vehicle and attempted to escape, according to the SPD incident report.

After police regained custody of Kaafi, they transported him to the jail. At that time, Kaafi told officers that he was having an asthma attack. Officers called emergency medical personnel, the report states, and said Kaafi was breathing without any apparent difficulty and speaking to officers before being transported to Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

Kaafi was on life support at the hospital following the incident. Neither the SPD nor the sheriff’s office provided further details on Kaafi’s deteriorating medical condition. Police spokeswoman Genevieve Judge said the department was awaiting toxicology results, and Kaafi displayed signs of being under the influence of drugs during his arrest.

The arrest, which took place at approximately 9 p.m. near the intersection of Orange Avenue and Eighth Street, began with an officer conducting a traffic stop on a vehicle without a working tag light. Kaafi, who was sitting in the passenger seat of that car, began exhibiting odd behavior, and officers attempted to detain the man for safety purposes, per the incident report.

Kaafi resisted that detention, the report states, and as they were attempting to subdue him, he informed officers he had asthma from the ground. At that time, officers requested an EMS response, but cancelled that request after assessing that Kaafi appeared to no longer be displaying any visible symptoms.

Kaafi was arrested for resisting without violence. Arrests for possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia, found on his person, and possession of a designer drug, located in a search of the vehicle, followed. After he initially refused to put his feet inside of the police car, officer Juan Jaimes was able to get Kaafi to agree to enter. Jaimes did not fasten Kaafi’s safety belt, citing concerns about his own safety.

While en route to the jail, Kaafi asked Jaimes to lower the vehicle’s windows so he could get some air. Jaimes rolled down the windows halfway and turned the air conditioning in the car up. While the car was in the turn lane at the intersection of Ringling Boulevard and U.S. 301, Jaimes said he heard Kaafi vigorously moving and watched him dive out of the passenger window. Kaafi had managed to get his hands, which had been handcuffed behind his back, in front of his body, Jaimes said.

Kaafi began running from the scene. Jaimes said that, after issuing warnings while in pursuit, he deployed his taser with no visible effect on Kaafi. Kaafi later tripped on the median, and as he tried again to get away, another officer arrived on the scene and deployed his taser, the report says. At that point, the two officers were able to regain control of Kaafi.

While at the jail’s sally port, Kaafi apologized to Jaimes and said he did not want to go to jail, the report says. Kaafi exited the patrol car under his own power. He then informed officers he was having an asthma attack, which led to his transfer to Sarasota Memorial Hospital. Sheriff’s deputies went to the hospital to guard Kaafi, taking custody of him, according the sheriff’s office.

Jaimes, along with officers Adam Arena and Laura Markey, is on administrative leave pending further investigation, per SPD administrative policy.

In addition to the sheriff’s office’s investigation, the SPD is conducting an administrative review of the incident, the sheriff’s office release said. More information from the incident report can be found on the Sarasota Police Department website.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.