{"id":413334,"date":"2026-09-29T01:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T01:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/413334\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T01:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T01:26:17","slug":"pinellas-sheriff-calls-st-pete-mans-death-an-excusable-homicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/413334\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinellas sheriff calls St. Pete man\u2019s death an ‘excusable homicide’"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 The Pinellas County Sheriff\u2019s Office has concluded that the death of a St. Petersburg man who became unresponsive after a struggle with police was an excusable homicide under Florida law.<\/p>\n

Brian Michael Pepal, 48, died Aug. 22 after St. Petersburg police officers responded to his home for a welfare check during a \u201cmental health crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pinellas sheriff calls St. Pete man\u2019s death an excusable homicide<\/p>\n

According to the investigation, Pepal violently attacked officers Daniel Poveda and Tammy Craig after they arrived at his home. The officers used Tasers and physical force to restrain him.<\/p>\n

Pepal became unresponsive shortly after he was handcuffed. According to the sheriff\u2019s office, officers removed the handcuffs, began CPR, and rushed him to St. Anthony\u2019s Hospital, where he was ultimately pronounced dead.<\/p>\n

An autopsy determined Pepal\u2019s cause of death was traumatic asphyxiation and the manner of death was homicide.<\/p>\n

The medical examiner listed restraint, coronary atherosclerosis, obesity, and schizophrenia as contributing conditions.<\/p>\n

Investigators said neither officer applied pressure to or squeezed Pepal\u2019s neck, and there was no exterior neck trauma.<\/p>\n

The medical examiner determined that the combination of the physical struggle, the use of a Taser, Pepal\u2019s face-down position, handcuffs, and the positioning of his legs restricted his ability to breathe. The investigation also found that his underlying medical conditions contributed.<\/p>\n

The task force concluded the officers would have been legally justified in using deadly force because Pepal\u2019s attack presented an \u201cimmediate threat of death or great bodily harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, investigators found they used Tasers and physical restraint to stop the attack and take Pepal into custody.<\/p>\n

\"Bob<\/p>\n

WFTS<\/p>\n

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri concluded Pepal\u2019s death was an \u201cexcusable homicide\u201d under Florida law and said the officers\u2019 actions were lawful and proper.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe officers had to defend themselves. And, you know, when you\u2019re in a fight like that and it\u2019s a knock-down drag-out, and you\u2019re doing everything you can to survive, that\u2019s all they\u2019re trying to do,\u201d the sheriff said during a Monday news conference.<\/p>\n

The State Attorney\u2019s Office independently reached the same conclusion after reviewing police reports, witness statements, photographs, body-worn camera video, and autopsy materials.<\/p>\n

State Attorney Bruce Bartlett said the officers could have been legally justified in using deadly force, but instead used non-deadly force. He concluded there was no intent to cause Pepal\u2019s death and that the force used was reasonable under the circumstances.<\/p>\n

Both officers were injured during the confrontation. Craig required stitches, while Poveda suffered facial lacerations.<\/p>\n

They have been medically cleared to return to duty but remain off the job while St. Petersburg Police conducts its internal review.<\/p>\n

The department also has a civilian response team for some mental health calls. Chief Anthony Holloway said the team was not sent to Pepal\u2019s home because of the reported threat of violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not send civilians to those types of calls,\u201d Holloway said.<\/p>\n

Pepal\u2019s stepmother described him to Tampa Bay 28 as a loving, caring person.<\/p>\n

However, Sheriff Gualtieri says Pepal had struggled with mental health issues for years. Investigators documented multiple mental health crises, including Baker Act commitments and diagnoses of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n

Share Your Story with Chad

Chad Mills calls Polk County home and has witnessed the area\u2019s growth firsthand. He is focused on sharing stories from his neighbors in Lakeland. You can use the form below to connect with Chad.
.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bradenton community responds after 20-year-old volleyball star dies from disease that affects 2 in a million<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old IMG Academy volleyball star and Under Armour All-American died Sept. 16 after a three-month battle with the rare blood disorder \u2014 even though doctors had found her a 100% bone marrow match, her mother, Tanya Mack tells Tampa Bay 28 reporter Haley Zarcone.<\/p>\n

20-year-old volleyball star dies from disease that affects 2 in a million<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 The Pinellas County Sheriff\u2019s Office has concluded that the death of a St. Petersburg…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[34332,27210,163726,5507,163727,97219,596,107032,202,204,203,199,201,200,5910,3670],"class_list":["post-413334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-anthony-holloway","tag-bob-gualtieri","tag-brian-pepal","tag-death","tag-excusable-homicide","tag-mental-health-crisis","tag-pinellas-county","tag-pinellas-news","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-tampa-bay-28","tag-tampa-bay-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}