Part one of a series about a Marin family, mental health and local law enforcement.

Michael Little never believed his younger brother’s stories about police putting him in “a bag with ratchet straps.” After all, Joshua Little suffered from schizophrenia, which caused him to sometimes hallucinate.

“It was just way too far-fetched,” Mike said. “Josh would tell me the police put a bag over his head. Then he said there’s this thing that goes around his body, his arms, his hands, his shoulders and his legs—with straps that hold it together so he couldn’t move.”

In other accounts, Josh described passing out because the straps were too tight, leaving him unable to breathe. He reported to his brother that officers transported him to jail in the device, and he would bounce around in the back of the police vehicle, often getting stuck on the floorboard.

Since Josh’s teenage years, local police had contacted, arrested and jailed him on a regular basis. Still, Mike, older than Josh by two years, remained convinced that his brother’s strange claims were the result of disorganized thinking, a symptom of schizophrenia. He tried to reason with Josh.

“I respected the police,” Mike said. “I followed that path of, ‘I trust what the police are telling me. I trust that the police wouldn’t do something like that.’ And I think that that was my exact response to Josh. ‘The cops wouldn’t do that. They’d be in big trouble if they did that and they’d be the ones going to jail.’”

Eventually, Mike asked the Fairfax and Novato police departments for his brother’s records to find out what, if anything, Josh might be experiencing and mistaking for abuse. Both departments denied his request.

On Feb. 22, 2024, Josh died at age 36 of a drug overdose in Novato. Although he often faced adversity and his life was filled with trauma from a young age, Josh left behind family—a mother, brother, sister and three children—and friends who still grieve the sudden loss of a vibrant, kind and sensitive man.

Growing up, Josh spent many years in Marin’s foster care system. When he aged out, he sometimes lived with family, but mostly he lived on the streets. While his family always remained close and engaged, Josh’s disease caused him to behave erratically at times. And he self-medicated with drugs, especially prior to receiving his schizophrenia diagnosis and a prescription medication.

Josh’s repeated contacts with local law enforcement weren’t atypical for a person with schizophrenia. Study after study demonstrates that individuals with mental health issues are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system.

That’s true for Marin County. A 2024 report by the Marin County Civil Grand Jury stated that “up to two-thirds of the people held in the County Jail are afflicted with some form of mental health disorder.” It also noted that few treatment options exist after individuals with severe mental health issues are released from jail.

Although Mike had tried to get help for his brother from the jail’s mental health staff and other county agencies, he said he received little assistance. Once Josh died, Mike set out to learn as much as he could about a system that couldn’t seem to offer his brother the care he desperately needed. Perhaps his findings could benefit other Marin families with similar circumstances.

In April 2024, Mike began submitting requests for his brother’s records. First on his list: the Fairfax, Central Marin and Novato police departments. Most importantly, he wanted the videos from the police body-worn cameras that captured Josh’s arrests.

Fairfax and Novato had previously denied him access to the records, and they did so again. Ditto for Central Marin.

Vowing not to be deterred, the following month Mike filed a lawsuit against the Town of Fairfax for violating the California Public Records Act. The town hired an outside law firm—Bertrand, Fox, Elliot, Osman & Wenzel—while Mike represented himself.

“I want it to be clear that I did not seek monetary compensation,” Mike told the Pacific Sun. “I just wanted to force Fairfax to provide my brother’s records.”

Five months later, the two parties reached a settlement agreement that provided Mike with the records, including footage from the police body-worn cameras. Thomas Bertrand, Fairfax’s attorney, also represents the Central Marin police department, and had that agency release Josh’s records to Mike prior to any legal action.

“What I saw broke my heart,” Mike said. “Everything Josh described was real.”

The Pacific Sun has reviewed police and Marin County jail documents, as well as hours of police video footage. The images are harrowing.

Over a four-month period from December 2020 through April 2021, on at least five separate occasions, Fairfax and Central Marin police officers placed Josh in the WRAP, a full-body restraint system, a spit hood and helmet. One video shows blood streaming down Josh’s face. At times, he can be heard saying he can’t breathe. Some officers seem to taunt him.

Although law enforcement agencies and corrections departments around the country use the WRAP system, manufactured by Safe Restraints, many people believe using the device has risks. Lawsuits have been filed for in-custody deaths involving the WRAP.

In 2018, Dujuan Armstrong, a 23-year-old father, died after being restrained in the WRAP at the Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County. Armstrong’s autopsy by the Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau found that he died of mechanical asphyxia. The cause? A combination of the spit mask, which prevented him from breathing properly, and the WRAP, which compressed his stomach and pulled down his neck.

The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office no longer uses the WRAP. Last year, the Missouri Department of Corrections also stopped using the restraint device after the death of an incarcerated man.

Most of Marin’s 13 law enforcement agencies have and use the WRAP. The San Rafael, College of Marin, Belvedere and Ross police departments don’t have the device. However Belvedere and Ross indicated that, if necessary, a neighboring police department with the device could provide mutual aid.

Earlier this year, Mike filed a lawsuit against the Fairfax, Central Marin and Novato police departments for their use of the WRAP. Again, he’s representing himself with attorney Bertrand on the other side. Mike hopes to establish a precedent that would prevent the WRAP’s use in California or at least force these three local agencies to adopt policies to ensure the device is used correctly.

“I’m asking for the court to answer two questions,” Mike said. “One, do the agencies have device-specific policy in place for the use of the WRAP device, as required by California Code?  And, two, does this device create a substantial risk of positional asphyxiation?”

Mike Little acknowledges that he began his mission to find out what happened to his brother at the hands of local officers. Now, he’s working to protect the public from what he believes is a dangerous device.

The next court date is scheduled for Sept. 11, 2025.