{"id":415433,"date":"2026-10-01T05:34:42","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T05:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/415433\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T05:34:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T05:34:42","slug":"pinellas-county-sheriff-st-pete-mans-death-was-excusable-homicide-in-police-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/415433\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinellas County sheriff: St Pete man\u2019s death was \u2018excusable homicide\u2019 in police encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"

LARGO, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri spoke on Monday regarding a deadly force incident<\/a> that occurred last month.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 22, just before 11 a.m. a woman flagged down an SPPD officer for help while her adult stepson was experiencing a mental health crisis.<\/p>\n

Officers responded to the home on 5th Street North to conduct a wellness check, but things took a turn.<\/p>\n

After they knocked on the door, officers said 48-year-old Brian Michael Pepal came out of the home and immediately attacked one of them.<\/p>\n

During a press conference on Monday, body camera video of the incident was shown, which appeared to confirm this version of events.<\/p>\n

The video showed the officers knocking on the door of the home, followed by Pepal opening it and immediately taking a swing at one of the officers.<\/p>\n

“So as you can see, that was an extremely violent fight,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gulatieri said.<\/p>\n

According to the sheriff, both officers sustained injuries, one suffering lacerations to his face, and the other was taken to the hospital for sutures.<\/p>\n

“You can see by the dents in that one vehicle, and there was a big dent in the other vehicle, that when he violently, and it was violent, pushed them into the vehicles with such force it caused them to dent,” Gualtieri said.<\/p>\n

During the physical altercation, one of the officers deployed a taser. Officers were able to get Pepal to the ground to take him into custody, at which point they realized he was not breathing, PCSO said at the time of the incident.<\/p>\n

The officers attempted lifesaving measures until paramedics responded to the scene, However, Pepal was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.<\/p>\n

The Pinellas County sheriff said that Pepal had a history of mental health issues. The sheriff reported that Pepal had experienced his first mental health crisis about 10 years ago, involving hallucinations. He was diagnosed as schizophrenic.<\/p>\n

“Pepal’s family reported that his mental health declined substantially after he was struck by a vehicle back in 2023, and that he had a history of paranoid delusions and threatening behavior toward neighbors,” Gualtieri said. “He was Baker Acted in 2025 after he threatened neighbors, and he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at that time.”<\/p>\n

The sheriff also said that on April 24, Pepal was Baker Acted after chasing cars, yelling at people to “come and get” him.<\/p>\n

The Pinellas and Pasco Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy and determined the manner of death to be homicide. The cause of death was determined to be traumatic asphyxiation, with contributing conditions of restraint, coronary atherosclerosis, obesity, and schizophrenia.<\/p>\n

The toxicology results showed that there was marijuana present in his system, according to the sheriff.<\/p>\n

The Pinellas County Sheriff then went on to clarify the definition of homicide under the law, as it pertains to this case.<\/p>\n

He said that the medical examiner’s office found that the cause of death was determined to be at the hands of another. It was ruled a homicide.<\/p>\n

The cause of death due to traumatic asphyxiation, the sheriff said, was due to the totality of the circumstances surrounding the restraint. These, in conjunction with the obesity, contributed to the traumatic.<\/p>\n

“At no time was any restraint applied to Pepal’s neck,” the sheriff reiterated.<\/p>\n

“Our determination is that the death of Brian Pepal is an excusable homicide pursuant to Florida statute 782.03.”<\/p>\n

Under Florida Statute 782.03, a homicide is excusable when committed by accident and misfortune in doing any lawful act. A lawful act is defined as one committed with caution and without unlawful intent.<\/p>\n

Gualtieri said that the officers, rather than using deadly force, used physical force and employed their tasers to defend themselves, which is justifiable under Florida law.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LARGO, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri spoke on Monday regarding a deadly force incident that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[164590,27210,152315,163726,97219,12187,596,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-415433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-baker-acted","tag-bob-gualtieri","tag-brian-michael-pepal","tag-brian-pepal","tag-mental-health-crisis","tag-mental-health-issues","tag-pinellas-county","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415433","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=415433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}