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On the afternoon of Friday, May 8, 2020, Sacramento Fire Capt. Gary Loesch received a call from an assistant city manager urging him to attend an unplanned meeting at Old City Hall—one he hadn’t been formally invited to, but suspected was about a recent incident involving his department. 

Two months earlier, five firefighters had responded to a medical call in south Sacramento for a man acting erratically due to a diabetic episode. Police were called for backup and handcuffed the man in the prone position as firefighters attempted to treat him. He lost consciousness, slipped into a coma, and died a week later after being removed from life support. 

Loesch had launched an internal investigation, but he knew city officials were conducting their own. When he arrived at the meeting, he found city attorneys and staff reviewing police body cam footage showing Reggie Payne struggling while restrained on his parents’ living room floor. A city official quickly demanded the immediate termination of all five firefighters—a move that shocked Loesch, who questioned the lack of due process and the absence of any accountability for the police officers involved. While he agreed discipline was necessary, firing the firefighters felt extreme and unjustified. Something wasn't right. And it was only the beginning.

 

On the afternoon of Friday, May 8, 2020, Sacramento Fire Capt. Gary Loesch received a call from an assistant city manager urging him to attend an unplanned meeting at Old City Hall&mdash;one he hadn&rsquo;t been formally invited to, but suspected was about a recent incident involving his department.&nbsp;
Two months earlier, five firefighters had responded to a medical call in south Sacramento for a man acting erratically due to a diabetic episode. Police were called for backup and handcuffed the man in the prone position as firefighters attempted to treat him. He lost consciousness, slipped into a coma, and died a week later after being removed from life support.&nbsp;
Loesch had launched an internal investigation, but he knew city officials were conducting their own. When he arrived at the meeting, he found city attorneys and staff reviewing police body cam footage showing Reggie Payne struggling while restrained on his parents&rsquo; living room floor. A city official quickly demanded the immediate termination of all five firefighters&mdash;a move that shocked Loesch, who questioned the lack of due process and the absence of any accountability for the police officers involved. While he agreed discipline was necessary, firing the firefighters felt extreme and unjustified. Something&nbsp;wasn't&nbsp;right. And it was only the beginning.
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In February of 2020, a 48-year-old Black man named Reggie Payne slipped into a coma and later died after police restrained him face down on his parent’s living room floor as he cried out for help. No one filmed it on their smartphone. No footage flashed across newscasts.

Reggie’s death came and went quietly, unlike the murder of George Floyd just a couple months later. But journalists Rick Jervis and Jeff Pearlman refused to let it go. Nearly three decades earlier, Reggie, Jeff and Rick worked together as summer interns at a Nashville newspaper. While Rick and Jeff went on to enjoy successful careers in media, Reggie – who went by the hip-hop moniker “Sexy Sweat” – vanished into a cloud of mental health struggles and personal trauma.

Following his death, Rick and Jeff started digging. They wanted to find out not just the details of how their friend lapsed into a coma at the hands of police but also how Reggie – smart, engaging, dynamic, ambitious – wound up as yet another American tragedy. This is the story of Sexy Sweat.

In February of 2020, a 48-year-old Black man named Reggie Payne slipped into a coma and later died after police restrained him face down on his parent&rsquo;s living room floor as he cried out for help.&nbsp;No one filmed it on their smartphone. No footage flashed across newscasts.
Reggie&rsquo;s death came and went quietly, unlike the murder of George Floyd just a couple months later. But journalists Rick Jervis and Jeff Pearlman refused to let it go. Nearly three decades earlier, Reggie, Jeff and Rick worked together as summer interns at a Nashville newspaper. While Rick and Jeff went on to enjoy successful careers in media, Reggie &ndash; who went by the hip-hop moniker &ldquo;Sexy Sweat&rdquo; &ndash; vanished into a cloud of mental health struggles and personal trauma.
Following his death, Rick and Jeff started digging. They wanted to find out not just the details of how their friend lapsed into a coma at the hands of police but also how Reggie &ndash; smart, engaging, dynamic, ambitious &ndash; wound up as yet another American tragedy. This is the story of Sexy Sweat.

Finding Sexy Sweat

Episode 8: No One Will Know My Struggle

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/c405e380-9d07-4965-b12e-b331011a31cc/transcript