The Knoxville Police Department has released the pertinent body-camera footage from the incident that occurred on April 7, 2024, when a man who was detained during a search warrant passed away.

At around 9:20 p.m. on the night of April 7, members of the KPD’s Special Operations Squad assisted the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in serving a search warrant at an apartment at The Ammons apartment complex on Asheville Highway. The search warrant was obtained as part of an ongoing narcotics investigation being led by the TBI’s Drug Investigations Division.

SOS personnel entered the apartment and detained numerous individuals. They remained on scene to assist with scene security.

While officers were still on scene, one of the subjects who was detained during the search warrant, identified as 57-year-old James Lee Dickens, reported that he did not feel well. On-scene KPD officers requested medical assistance at around 9:43 p.m. KFD personnel arrived on scene around nine minutes later.

Dickens was transported to the UT Medical Center via AMR, where his condition quickly and for unknown reasons deteriorated. Dickens passed away a short time after his arrival at UTMC.

No force was used during Dickens’ detainment. There were no violations of department policy or procedures identified in the preliminary review of the body-camera footage, and all of the involved officers remain on regular assignment.

A link to the video can be found here. The video starts when SOS personnel entered the apartment and runs uninterrupted until after Dickens’ handcuffs are removed and medical personnel take over.

The incident remains under investigation by both the TBI’s Criminal Investigation Division and the KPD’s Office of Professional Standards.

Per department policy, in the event of a critical incident, the Office of Public Information in coordination with the Technical Services Unit and other appropriate department personnel, will immediately begin preparing a video of said incident for public release. The purpose of the video release is to inform the community of the circumstances that led to the incident in a timely fashion. The department strives to release critical incident video to the public as expeditiously as possible, in coordination with District Attorney General Charme Allen and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.