By admin 
Sacramento County paid a $1.62 million settlement to the family of a man who died after a police chase, after law enforcement officials allegedly blocked paramedics from rendering aid for two and a half hours.
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The October agreement settles part of a federal lawsuit regarding the 2021 death of Amelian Houff, 20, of Hayward. The case against the Sacramento Police Department, which is also named as a defendant in the suit, is still ongoing.
Houff’s parents filed the suit shortly after their son died. Although the cause of death was blunt force injuries from Houff crashing into a tree, the parents alleged that if the law enforcement officers allowed paramedics to rush him to a hospital sooner, they may have saved his life.
The suit, filed in 2022 by longtime civil rights attorney John L. Burris, names as defendants the city, county, Police Officer Mitchell Barrett, Police Sgt. Michael Frazier, Lt. Brian Scott Ellis, Sheriff’s Sgt. Jim Spurgeon, and Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Daniels.
County spokesperson Kim Nava declined to comment on the settlement. Sheriff spokesperson Sgt. Edward Igoe did not respond to an email seeking comment. A police spokesperson referred comment to the city. Julie Hall, a city spokesperson, said the city cannot comment on pending litigation.
The incident started on Aug. 29, 2021 at 4:48 a.m., Houff and several others fled the scene of a burglary at a Rancho Cordova marijuana dispensary, according to a court document filed by Houff’s father’s attorney. Officer Mitchell Barrett chased the two vehicles, which were speeding over 100 miles per hour, about a mile along Elder Creek Road.
When Barrett got to the corner of Elder Creek and Bradshaw roads, an eyewitness pointed out that one of the vehicles had crashed into a tree, and was lodged several feet off the ground, covered in tree branches, the court document said. Barrett, now out of the city limits, called for back up.
Several deputies and officers responded, but the leadership of both law enforcement agencies said no one was allowed to approach the vehicle, even as Houff called out for help, assuming Houff was armed, the document alleged.
Common police practice across the country is for paramedics to wait for police to say it’s safe to approach a scene before treating a person.
Ellis, the highest ranking member of Sacramento Police Department on scene, joked with another officer on the phone about Houff’s condition, calling the scene “Dukes of Hazzard” and laughing, the document alleged.
Even though he knew Houff was still calling out for help, Ellis sent away the only ambulance on the scene, the document said. The officers nearest the crash site told Spurgeon that Houff called out for help again at 6 a.m. and again at 6:11 a.m. The dispensary then called to say the security footage showed no weapons used during the burglary.
However Spurgeon decided to wait for a drone operator instead, who did not arrive until 6:24 a.m., the document alleged, and at 7:17 a.m., Spurgeon ordered officers to approach the vehicle, armed with the shields they had with them since arriving at the scene. They found Houff had a gash in his skull and his arms and head was hanging out the window.
According to the coroner death report, Houff was injured at 4:53 a.m., and died at the scene at 7:30 a.m.
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“Rather than facilitate the rescue of Houff from the crashed vehicle, Defendants … ignored Houff’s obvious medical needs, held him at gunpoint, stalled any recovery efforts, prevented other officers from approaching Houff for nearly two and half hours, and Ellis even sent the paramedics who were staged on scene away,” the document stated.
Ellis resigned from service in August 2023, about a year after the incident, said Jennifer Singer, a city spokesperson.
According to his LinkedIn page, Ellis spent 25 years at Sacramento Police Department, then 13 years training law enforcement officials at the National Command & Staff College before starting his own training company, Tactical Concepts Co. LLLC, earlier this year.
Ian Kelley, lawyer for Houff’s mother, said Ellis was allowed to “fail upwards.”
“Bad actors like Brian Ellis do harm to the public and go on to earn money in the private sector, leading the city to foot the bill for the harms they caused on the public’s dime,” Kelley said.
It’s unclear whether any of the deputies or officers were disciplined or terminated in connection to the case. State law does not require the county or city to release that information as Houff was not shot or seriously injured by law enforcement.
In a February 2025 filing, Ellis’ attorneys defended his conduct. The attorneys did not respond to request for comment from The Bee this week.
“Houff dying from blood loss is a risk Houff faced from the ‘mortal injuries’ he sustained in the crash and not anything Ellis did or did not do,” the filing said. “Had Ellis never arrived, Houff faced the same risk of bleeding to death, especially because he was trapped in car and could not himself get medical care. Conduct by Ellis that purportedly failed to minimize that existing risk is not the same as exposing Houff to risks he didn’t already face before Ellis even arrived on scene.”
Similarly, the county attorneys representing Spurgeon and Daniels defended their actions in a February 2025 filing.
“The evidence that Sgt. Spurgeon and Lt. Daniels tortuously deliberated the balance of providing medical care to Houff versus protecting the safety of everyone involved demonstrates they were not deliberately indifferent to Houff’s needs,” the filing said. “Anyone who watches the body worn camera videos can see, plain as day, that Sgt. Spurgeon and Lt. Daniels desperately wanted to safely render medical aid to Houff.”
The Sheriff’s Office policy manual states that people who appear to have life-threatening symptoms should be taken to a hospital by ambulance, even if they are also being arrested.
“Nothing in this section should delay a deputy from requesting EMS when an arrestee reasonably appears to be exhibiting symptoms that appear to be life threatening, including breathing problems or an altered level of consciousness, or is claiming an illness or injury that reasonably warrants an EMS response in accordance with the deputy’s training,” the policy manual states.
The county is self-insured, meaning it paid the settlement directly out of its own budget using taxpayer funds.
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This story was originally published July 22, 2026 at 12:57 PM.