Body cam footage released by the Bloomington Police Department shows a homeless resident in his final hours alive.
The footage, which was obtained by B Square Beacon, shows two videos of a Bloomington police officer doing a welfare check on James or “JT” Vanderberg in Seminary Park.
In the first video, the officer checks on Vanderburg and another person after receiving calls about them and he tells Vanderburg he just needed to “make sure you’re alive.”
In the second video, taken on December 24th, Vanderburg is seen laying uncovered aside from his clothing and is unresponsive. He does not appear to respond to the officer’s questions and the officer leaves.
That welfare check took place just three hours before JT was found dead due to causes including hypothermia.
Bloomington Chief of Police Michael Diekhoff’s full statement on the body cam footage
In a press release, the police department claimed officers had checked on Vanderburg twice that morning and that he had refused assistance.
In a city council meeting last week, City Councilwoman Isabel Piedmont-Smith said she believed the city’s clearing of homeless tents in Seminary Park in January contributed to JT’s death.
Police Chief Michael Diekhoff stated that JT Vanderburg did not have any tent at the time of the clearing of Seminary Park and claimed that the officer *did* get a response from him in that video.
City Councilwoman Isabel Piedmont-Smith argues that the clearing of homeless camps in Seminary Park left JT “vulnerable.”
Both of the videos released by the police department can be accessed here on the B Square Beacon website.
According to B Square Beacon, a memorial plaque in JT’s honor is set to be installed on the bench at the corner of Second and Walnut Street in Seminary Park.
The plaque was paid for by the public defender’s office and other community members and will read: “The dead cannot cry out for justice. It is the duty of the living to do so for them.”
