Body Cam Moments and Otis Gibbs Insights Shed New Light on Todd Snider’s Final Days
When the body camera footage from Todd Snider’s arrest in Salt Lake City on November 2nd was released, his fans, family, and friends were faced with a moral conundrum if they should even consume it. Arrested for criminal trespass, threat of violence, and disorderly conduct at the Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake after Snider sought treatment at the hospital and was denied, the footage felt like a element of tabloid gotcha media. Those who’s curiosity got the best of them, or maybe sincerely concerned about Snider’s well being and what he experienced broke down and watched.
But after Todd Snider died on November 14th, the moments captured in the body camera footage took on a completely different aspect and importance. The same moments went from excruciating to watch because you sensed Snider was going through some sort of metal health episode, to excruciating to watch because you know you’re seeing a man in his final days of life, clearly in pain, and pleading for help.
The body camera footage has also become one of the most useful tools as Todd’s fans try to recreate his moments in Salt Lake City to try and find answers as to why he was denied care, and if this was ultimately a fatal decision by medical and law enforcement officials in Salt Lake City. Incidentally, and sadly, this body cam footage is also the final time the vast majority of people will see Todd Snider alive.
Along with going through the 44-minute body camera footage to gleam clues about what might have happened to Snider and what his state of health might have been, fellow musician and video podcaster Otis Gibbs has also shared his experience as a long, close friend of Snider’s. Gibbs was one of the few people who saw Snider in the short period between when Todd returned to Nashville, and when he was admitted to the hospital before passing away.
In a 16-minute video, Gibbs explains how he and his wife went to visit Snider. According to Gibbs, he was the first one to worry that Snider had pneumonia after hearing him cough. Gibbs suggested Snider go to the hospital, and volunteered to drive him there. Ultimately Gibbs left with Snider promising to go to the hospital, which he eventually did later that evening. However, at that point, it was probably too late.
Otis Gibbs also offers very valuable insight into Snider’s prescription drug regimen, and how that might have been critical to the behavior we see on the body cam footage of Snider. Careful study of the footage body cam footage corroborates the Otis Gibbs observations. Snider was prescribed two prescription drugs at the time, the anti-anxiety Klonopin, and the muscle/skeletal relaxer Baclofen.
“I’m not trying to say this as factual world over, I’m telling you the conversation that I had with Todd,” Gibbs explains. “I told him this in an email. I googled Baclofen, and it’s not an opioid, it’s not a narcotic, it’s prescribed to people with pain. Todd dealt with a lot of back pain for a long time. A lot. He also dealt with a stomach issue that he had surgery for. He had a lot of pain he was dealing with.”
Gibbs goes on to say about Baclofen, “They said it was rarely addictive. But the thing that stuck with me the most is the warnings. It says, ‘Important safety information: Do not stop taking Baclofen abruptly. Suddenly stopping this medication, especially if you have been taking large doses for a long time, can cause serious withdrawal symptoms, such as seizures, fever, confusion, hallucinations, and severe muscle stiffness.”
Gibbs has made his 16-minute video un-embeddable, but you can watch it here.
In the police body cam video, Snider can be heard saying at the 16:21 mark, “I don’t have my medicine. I don’t have my medication.” When the officer asks him what medications he’s taking, Snider responds, “Klonopin, Baclofen. I need to be in a hospital.”
Just before that, Snider is also heard saying, “I’m sick … I’m in so much pain … It’s in my back, in my neck, my arms, my legs, my stomach. It’s everywhere. It’s excruciating.”
The Todd Snider estate says he ultimately passed away from double pneumonia that progressed into sepsis. Numerous times in the body cam video, Todd Snider is heard complaining that he cant’ breathe. At the 25:05 mark of the video, Todd can be heard yelling from inside the police car, and saying he can’t breathe. “Please. I’m begging you. I’m begging you for mercy.”
Near the end of the video as Snider is being driven to the jail, he complains numerous times about not being able to breathe. Then at the 32:17 mark, Snider can be heard coughing in deep, phlegm-like, coughs.
However, one important note about the Otis Gibbs video is that it also helps to emphasize is that once Todd Snider returned to Nashville from Salt Lake City, he did not got directly to the hospital. He waited 3-5 days before admitting himself at the advice of Otis Gibbs. Similar to if Snider’s walking pneumonia would have been caught in Salt Lake City, if Snider had admitted himself earlier in Nashville, he might still be alive.
Something else we can see from the body camera footage is the potential linchpin of the police deciding to arrest and charge Todd Snider was that a security guard at Holy Cross hospital said Snider threatened to “kick his ass.” The head nurse who denied Snider care said Snider did not threaten him. In many jurisdictions, threats of violence is when charges are escalated, and suspects are detained.
Another interesting interaction happens at the 20:15 mark of the body cam video when a second officer states to the arresting officer wearing the body camera, “The nurse at the jail says if he really needs to be at the hospital, then he should stay at the hospital.” Ultimately though, the officers decide to take Snider to jail.
There are many other moments that give us important insight into Todd Snider’s state during the body camera footage. You can see them noted below the video itself.
0:00 – Todd Snider notoriously did not use or carry a cell phone. His primary way of communication was email. That is why you see him with a laptop.
00:18 – Snider says, “You guys are really sweet” to the officers. It’s unlikely Todd Snider was being sarcastic in this moment. The Salt Lake City Police officers did seem to be polite with Snider considering the circumstances. This could have also been a commentary on the contrast of attitude compared to the security staff of the hospital itself.
00:32 – One of the police officers says, “Thanks for being cooperative.” Snider says, “I’m being cooperative.” Throughout the video, Snider is never insulting or combative, even if he complains, and at times, pleads with officers. Though we don’t have camera footage of the alleged incidents from inside the hospital, Snider’s behavior with the officers would have to be in contrast with the hospital to have the police called on him.
1:00 – The police search Todd Snider, presumably for drugs and potentially weapons. There are no drugs on his person.
1:12 – You see the officer pull a Blue Cross/Blue Shield medical insurance card out of the back pocket of Todd Snider’s pants. Though it’s not impossible for homeless people to have health insurance, it’s pretty uncommon. This should have been an indication to both police and hospital staff that Snider was not a vagrant.
1:30 – Todd Snider tells the officers about the 22 staples in his head. He’s referring to the staples as evidence that he had been assaulted recently, and was legitimately seeking medical treatment. “I got mugged, and turned away by the hospital,” Snider goes on to say.
2:10 – We see that Todd Snider has discharge paperwork from CommonSpirit Health on his person, which is the parent company of Holy Cross Hospital. We do not know if that discharge paperwork is from when they denied him care, the previous time he visited a hospital to get the staples in his head after the alleged assault, or a different visit to a Salt Lake City area be made before the visit where he was denied, and the police were called.
2:22 to 4:30 – A nurse is interviewed by police in one of the most important moments of the video. The nurse states, “He was assaulted last night. Seen at two different hospitals. He was just discharged from one of our sister hospitals about 12:30. He came today and I just straight up asked him, ‘What is it you want us to do that they haven’t done for you?’ He just said his whole body hurts, and he said he just wanted a place to sleep overnight. I said we are not a place you can sleep overnight. If you need a place to sleep overnight, you need to find some place else. That’s when everything escalated, screaming down the hall, cussing and screaming. He was being loud and obnoxious.”
The officer asks, “Any threats?”
The nurse responds, “No threats, just calling names.”
Then one of the CommonSpirit security officers chimes in, saying “He threatened to kick my ass.”
The nurse then said specifically, “He never came to me and threatened [me], and called me a bunch of names, which may be true.”
The reason the police officers asked numerous times if Snider made any threats is because that is the threshold in most jurisdictions for “threat of violence” charges that Snider was charged with, along with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. Nobody claims that Snider was physically violent towards them, though at one point the security officer said Snider “poked” him on the shoulder.
The nurse also says that Snider said, “His whole body hurts.” Not only could Snider still haven been dealing with injuries from the alleged assault, this could be the aches and pains of his potential walking pneumonia, as well as the Baclofen withdrawal issue raised by Otis Gibbs.
4:30 – The security officer who claims Snider threatened to “kick his ass” shows the officer his phone and tells him that Todd Snider is a famous musician. This means at least some of the hospital staff likely knew he was not a homeless vagrant.
7:20 – Microphone of the body camera is muted as the two officers talk.
8:58 – 13:25 – Microphone remains muted, and camera is blurred, likely because the officer is on the private property of the hospital. The officer interviews the lead nurse before bringing him a witness statement.
Though presumably there is surveillance video from within the hospital that could refute or corroborate the claims for the nurse and security officer, we have yet to see it.
13:45 – The first thing that Todd Snider says as the officer rolls down the back window of his police car is, “I’m in so much pain sir. I’m in so much pain.”
14:50 – After being read his Miranda rights, Snider says, “Please, I just want to be treated. I need to be in the hospital, not a jail. Please! … I need a bed. I’m sick.”
15:14 – The police officer asks Snider, “Are you homeless?” Snider responds, “I’m not homeless. I live in Nashville. I have a band. I’m famous. My band ditched me. I need my lawyer here. I’m not a bad person. I promise. I just need help. I’m sick … I’m in so much pain … It’s in my back, in my neck, my arms, my legs, my stomach. It’s everywhere. It’s excruciating. I can’t go to jail.
16:24 – Snider continues, “I don’t have my medicine. I don’t have my medication.” When the officer asks him what his medication is, Snider responds, “Klonopin, Baclofen. I need to be in a hospital.”
17:02 – While the officer is speaking to Snider, he confirms that an ambulance brought Snider to the hospital. That ambulance call resulted from a bystander calling the Salt Lake City police after being flagged down by Snider at 245 S. State Street at about 3:40 pm on the same day, November 2nd.
17:10 – Todd Snider denies saying that he was going to kick anyone’s ass. “I promise. I’m a good man.”
18:58 – Todd Snider pleads again, “Please. Can I please go back to the hospital. Sir, I am sick! Please let me go to the hospital.”
20:15 – The second officer states, “The nurse at the jail says if he really needs to be at the hospital, then he should stay at the hospital.”
21:45 – 25:00 – Body cam microphone is muted.
25:05 – Todd can be heard yelling from inside the police car, and saying he can’t breathe. “Please. I’m begging you. I’m begging you for mercy.”
27:58 – Snider can be heard complaining again that he can’t breathe.
29:12 – Snider once again says he can’t breathe as the patrol car takes him to the jail.
32:17 – Snider can be heard heavily coughing.
33:50 – While still on the way to the jail, Snider asks the officer to pull over so he can get out to breathe.
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