Dashcam Video Shows

Death of Georgia Teen

Nicholas Dyksma in Fatal
Police Stop
BY MIGUEL ALMAGUER, BIANCA SEWARD AND ERIK ORTIZ
Dramatic dashcam video that shows the fatal encounter between Georgia police and
a teenage driver has prompted a civil rights lawsuit and claims by his family that his
death was an "execution."

Nicholas Dyksma, 18, died in the early-morning incident on Aug. 31, 2015, after he
led Harris County deputies on a 10-mile pursuit south of Atlanta, police said.

The dashcam video was obtained and is being released to the media by the Dyksma
family's attorney as a way to show the public what happened and potentially
prevent other police stops from turning so tragic, the family added.

"A lot of times people think, 'Well, he was in a police chase, he deserved everything
he got,'" Nicholas Dyskma's father, Greg, told NBC News on Friday. "But a police
chase isn't the reason to execute somebody."

Nicholas Dyksma (far left), 18, and family. Dyksma Family

"I understand running from the police was wrong, Greg Dyksma added, "but his
crime didn't equal the punishment he got. It's not the police's job to be the judge, jury
and executioner on the side of the road."
The pursuit began around 2 a.m. after police in Columbus responded to reports of a
suspicious person in a pickup truck at a Circle K convenience store. When they
arrived, police tried to wake up the driver later identified as Dyksma who was
slumped behind the wheel. He then woke up and sped off, police said.

Officers pursued Dyksma to Harris County, where deputies there used tire-deflation
devices to stop his truck on the highway.

The deputies described in an incident report how they gave "loud verbal commands"
to Dyksma, but said he failed to comply, which prompted one of them to break the
driver's side window to get him out.

Dashcam video shows deputies dragging Dyksma from the car and tasering him
before trying to handcuff him.

Its not the polices job to be the judge, jury and executioner on the side of the road.
"Defendants held Nicholas down, pinning him to the ground with the weight of their
bodies, and continued to do so even after he was handcuffed," according to the
family's lawsuit, filed on Feb. 14.

That weight "cut off his air supply so that he was unable to breath, and Defendants
did not stop applying pressure on his airway until after he lost consciousness," the
suit continues.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said he died from a combination of the stun
gun, "compression of the neck and torso" and "acute" methamphetamine
intoxication.

One of the deputies is heard on the video asking: "Is he alive?"

The suit also alleges that the deputies did not attempt CPR on Dyksma until the
ambulance arrived about 10 minutes later.

"By then it was too late to revive him," according to the suit.
Nicholas Dyksma, 18. Dyksma Family
The deputies said they were monitoring Dyksma's breathing and pulse while awaiting
for emergency responders.

"Mr. Dyksma was breathing heavily and appeared to be disoriented. He would not
respond to us and was acting as if he were going into shock," Deputy Heath Dawson
wrote in his incident report.

"When we could no longer find a pulse and Mr. Dyksma quit breathing, we
determined to start CPR," he added.

Dyksma was later pronounced dead at the hospital about an hour after the incident
started.

Deputies said they found a prescription pill bottle in a back pack stashed in the bed
of Dyksma's truck.

Harris County Sheriff Mike Jolley told NBC News on Friday that the office can't
comment because the case is in litigation. Three of the defendants named in the suit
deputies Dawson and William Sturdevant and former deputy Tommy Pierson
have not responded for comment. The sheriff's department said Pierson was
terminated in 2016 for unrelated reasons.

A fourth defendant, Sgt. Joe Harmon, could not be reached for comment.

The Dyksma family is asking for a jury trial and damages in an amount determined
by the jurors.

Greg Dyksma said he understands his son had drugs in his system and for some
unknown reason fled police but he didn't deserve to die.

"My son was 115 pounds. He wasn't moving, he wasn't fighting, he wasn't doing
anything," his distraught dad said. "That's an execution."

He added that his son's alopecia, which causes hair loss, led him to get picked on
growing up and put him in situations where his reaction was to flee.

"He wasn't the type who would fight you," Greg Dyksma said. "He would run."

Dyksma's mother, Tammy, added that her son's death should instead prompt the
Harris County Sheriff's Office to reevaluate how they make arrests.

"I don't want them to treat anybody else's child like that," she said.