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‘Help me’: Newly released video shows Haverhill man’s encounter with police before his death
Tucker introduced the 28-minute video by thanking the public for submitting videos for their investigation, calling the contribution “outstanding” and “crucial.”
Amid an ongoing investigation into his death, officials released 28 minutes of videos showing Francis Gigliotti in the hours leading up to a struggle with Haverhill police outside a local restaurant.
Essex County District Attorney Paul Tucker held a press conference Monday, where he offered condolences to Gigliotti’s friends and family and presented videos of Gigliotti before the incident. The video compilation included surveillance footage and cell phone videos previously seen on social media.
“I am committed to sharing as much information as possible at the appropriate time. I know that there are many questions out there. I know the media has questions. We know the public has questions,” Tucker said, “but for today’s briefing, we are going to concentrate on the video portion of the investigation.”
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Gigliotti, 43, died July 11 after he “became unresponsive” as more than a half dozen police officers held him on the ground outside a local restaurant, according to officials and video accounts. Seven Haverhill police officers are now on paid administrative leave in connection with the incident.
Previously, police said officers responded to White Street to reports of a man acting erratically, weaving in and out of traffic and nearly being struck by vehicles. Gigliotti had “fallen on the floor when leaving the building, was running in the middle of the street and … hit a car with his head then continued down White Street,” the statement read.
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A police report indicates that Gigliotti allegedly “smoked crack cocaine inside of the building” on White Street “and began to freak out within seconds of smoking it.”
Tucker introduced the 28-minute video by thanking the public for submitting videos for their investigation, calling the contribution “outstanding” and “crucial.” He said because the investigation is still ongoing, he would not narrate the footage or appear to draw any conclusions.
Prosecutors also met with Gigliotti’s family and their attorneys, Tucker said, and showed them the footage. Previously, Gigliotti’s family hired a lawyer who said they would be “pursuing a private autopsy and evaluating any and all information and video related to the matter.”
Footage: ‘Help me, help me, help me’
The footage began with silent surveillance footage from around Haverhill. Gigliotti runs in streets and appears to flag down a car and look in its windows. He then opens the trunk of the vehicle, looks in, shuts it, and runs away.
The footage continues with him running down the street and then into a store around 6:15 p.m., according to time stamps. He interacts with a few people and then continues to run down the sidewalk and into the street. He then appears in an intersection, where he stands in the way of vehicles.
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A police car then approaches Gigliotti, and an officer interacts with him for about a minute before another officer approaches. The pair appear to be trying to keep him on the sidewalk and grabbing his arms, before Gigliotti flees about two minutes later. Police previously said that Gigliotti fled before an ambulance could arrive to assess his well-being.
The officers chase him down within the block, where Gigliotti tries to open the door to Bradford Seafood on Winter Street as more officers approach. In cell phone videos, an officer holds Gigliotti’s arm to stop him from getting into the restaurant.
Surveillance footage from across the street shows a pile of officers on Gigliotti for at least two minutes, but the footage cuts.
“Help me, help me, help me,” Gigliotti can be heard yelling with the officers on top of him. “Help, help, help.”
The rest of the footage, where Gigliotti presumably loses consciousness is completely blurred by an opaque gray box, but the audio continues.
That video appears to be the same video of the incident posted to TikTok, where Gigliotti seems to lose consciousness when his cries for help cease. Some officers then take a step away, while others continue to restrain him. A woman cries on the sidewalk in the video as EMS rush toward Gigliotti. First responders are seen giving him CPR outside the restaurant.
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“You better bring him back,” the woman, who appears to be his fiancee Michele Rooney, cries.
Watch a selected portion of the video below.
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