DeKalb County Police bodycam video shows a handcuffed man being pulled away from his home toward a mobile crisis unit vehicle, his breathing loud and labored.
The man, Arben Pilici, 49, died after he was placed in the back of the vehicle while officers and a social worker stood outside in conversation, according to a lawsuit filed two weeks ago by his mother, Sebahate Pilici.
Police were at the Stone Mountain home for a welfare check. The fatal incident took place in February 2024.
The body camera footage shows Arben being placed inside the mobile crisis unit vehicle and lying across the length of the backseat. In the video, after officers close the vehicle doors, Officer Jason Daniels stands outside, taking deep breaths and describing to Officer Keith Byrd how drained he feels from the effort to restrain Arben.
Daniels and social worker Lisa Guest also state on the recording that they believe Arben had been drinking alcohol when they arrived at the home.
Describing the physical struggle, Daniels says Arben pulled his radio off his belt. “In the meantime, I’m trying to put my weight on him. I’m a good 270, I’m trying to put my weight on him, he’s struggling,” Daniels said.
The officer likened the encounter to “two or three minutes of a heavyweight bout.”
According to the conversation captured on the recording, Byrd arrived at the home after Daniels and Guest because he was coming from Covington.
The lawsuit alleges that Arben suffocated and died as a result of being pinned “face-down on the floor” and pressed by Daniels’ “270-pound frame against” Arben’s back. It reads that the officer’s forearm was across his “neck for more than eight minutes.”
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court against DeKalb County, Officers Daniels and Byrd, and Guest. The complaint seeks monetary, compensatory and special damages from each defendant, along with punitive damages.
Sebahate Pilici is represented by attorneys Jeff Filipovits and Wingo Smith of the Filipovits & Smith law firm, along with attorney William Dixon James.
DeKalb County said it does not comment on pending litigation and declined a request for comment from SaportaReport.
Arben was unmarried and had immigrated with his family from Kosovo years ago, the lawsuit states.
According to the complaint, Daniels, Byrd and Guest responded to the Pilici home a day after a family member, and Arben’s physician requested a welfare check.
The lawsuit states Arben suffered from mental illness and had refused to go to a doctor’s appointment to refill his medications.
He was resistant but calm when officers arrived, the complaint states, but the situation escalated when Guest told Daniels that Arben “was going to be involuntarily committed.”
At a press conference held Feb. 13, attorneys and family members said Arben had long struggled with mental illness but was supported and loved by his family.
His niece, Lolita Jashari, said, “his death has left us heartbroken, especially since he died as a result of the actions of those who were supposed to help him. Losing Arben wasn’t just losing a family member. It was losing laughter at family gatherings, stories, and a presence that made everything feel a little better.”
The attorneys said in a statement that they believe specialized police units are failing people with mental illness.
“We will never stop failing them so long as every alternative we offer relies on the threat or use of violence,” attorney Wingo Smith said.
