MENDOCINO CO., 9/19/25 – The Mendocino County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office on Friday released the cause of death for a Willits man who died in June after sheriff’s deputies used pepper spray and a Taser stun gun on him.
Nicholas Bakewell, 36, died of asphyxiation from being restrained and a cardiac event, with contributing factors including intoxication from methamphetamine, psilocin and other drugs, pre-existing medical conditions and obesity, the Sheriff’s Office said.
On June 5, Bakewell allegedly assaulted a driver who had picked him up while hitchhiking on Hearst Willits Road in an unincorporated area of Mendocino County northeast of Willits. The driver was hospitalized, but his condition was not released.
Around 7 p.m., Deputy Jesus Lopez went to the 2000 block of Hearst Willits Road to investigate the alleged assault, where he found Bakewell walking in the middle of the road.
Body camera footage shows Bakewell approaching Lopez with his fists raised and yelling expletives. Lopez stepped back and ordered him to get on the ground, but Bakewell ran away.
“Stop, you’re gonna get Tased,” Lopez said to Bakewell.
Sgt. Sam Logan arrived and approached from the opposite direction. Bakewell stopped briefly, during which Logan told him, “You’re safe, man.”
Bakewell then ran toward Logan, who pepper sprayed him. Bakewell fell into roadside brush and was sprayed again.
Footage showed Bakewell crawling back to the road, where Logan tried to handcuff him. Bakewell appeared to throw a punch, and Logan deployed his Taser. Officers from the Willits Police Department arrived and helped restrain and handcuff Bakewell.
Within moments, Bakewell appeared to fall unconscious. An officer was heard stating “I got no pulse,” and Bakewell was uncuffed. A dose of Narcan, an opioid overdose medication, was given to Bakewell.
CPR was also provided to Bakewell by both law enforcement officers and EMTs.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, Bakewell was declared dead at the scene at 7:42 p.m., about 45 minutes after Lopez first arrived on the scene.
Bakewell’s death remains under investigation by the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office.
You failed to provide the last portion of the press release?
“The manner of death determined by the pathologist was homicide.”
https://us12.campaign-archive.com/?u=d58e8d47c32727a999b3dde01&id=41a31c565f
Yes….why would you not include this huge detail and finding into the article? Seems like headline should be: Willits man’s death ruled an HOMICIDE due to asphyxiation, cardiac event after being Tased, restrained during June arrest.
In California, homicide is defined as the killing of one human being by another, which can be either lawful or unlawful. The specific criminal charges—ranging from murder to manslaughter—depend on the defendant’s mental state, intent, and the circumstances of the killing.
Did they give him cpr though I saw a sternum rub no cpr
Hi Tara – Yes, per the article “CPR was also provided to Bakewell by both law enforcement officers and EMTs.”
Wasn’t there a retraining program that was implemented after the jailhouse death in 2014 of another Willits man that was supposed to train employees to do things differently because of how dangerous prone restraining measures are?
Wasn’t Sheriff Kendall the undersheriff back then? The settlement agreement was pretty thorough wasn’t it? How could this happen just a few years later?
Where in the heck did they get that he was overweight? Stupid! He needed intervention not death. Taser was set very high if it killed him. Even with drugs.
We see this a lot – Law enforcement’s immediate obsession with getting a suspect forcefully cuffed, especially behind the back which is hard to do. This often leads to long desperate violent struggles. Taxing the already often compromised health condition of the suspect and endangering the officers. “On your stomach!! On your stomach!! Down now, hands behind your back! ,” … … Isn’t it obvious these guys aren’t listening, and aren’t going to? Officer safety is important absolutely, so why not just let these guys tire themselves out – if they are not armed and actually presenting an imminent lethal threat? Take your time. They will eventually calm down or tucker out, given enough time, and they can then be taken into custody without having to tackle, subdue, lean and lay on them until either their heart or lungs give out.
We need the Star Trek stun gun. A non-lethal means of safely rendering a non-compliant suspect approachable for peaceful apprehension. These tasers aren’t working.
In this video the police say they performed CPR on the suspect, not one officer performed CPR on the suspect, at not in video shown, and you hear the one officer say he’s not getting a pulse, other word the suspect is dead already , and they should immediately be doing CPR on the suspect which they aren’t doing , so are we to believe they did CPR after the video stopped , I highly doubt it