Updated: 4 p.m. on March 23, 2026
More than a hundred people crowded an Inglewood street corner on Sunday afternoon to mourn Bryan Bostic, who died March 10 in Inglewood police custody, and protest city officials’ handling of the investigation.
After staying silent for more than a week, city officials said over the weekend that the 37-year-old Compton man was stopped, arrested after a “brief struggle with officers” and appeared to have stopped breathing by the time he arrived at the city jail. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office told The LA Local that the office is investigating the Inglewood Police Department’s use of force prior to Bostic’s death.
That statement only came out after family members gathered for Sunday’s vigil, nearly two weeks after Bostic’s death.
“We didn’t have any explanation as to what happened,” Talia Castillo, Bostic’s cousin, told The LA Local at the vigil. She added that if a different family member had died, the loving, over-protective Bostic would have been right in the thick of remembering them and seeking answers.
“It was heartbreaking,” Castillo said.
Inglewood Mayor James Butts wrote in a statement released Sunday afternoon that he and City Council members knew about Bostic’s death within six hours. He did not immediately answer questions from The LA Local, including why police did not release information about Bostic’s death earlier.
Inglewood police did not respond to a series of requests for comment from The LA Local via email, phone and in person over the course of a week beginning March 16.
Here is what we know about how Bostic died
The circumstances surrounding Bostic’s death at the Inglewood Police Department headquarters remain murky nearly two weeks later. The LA County Medical Examiner’s office has yet to declare the cause or manner of death for Bostic, and a spokesperson said his death is still under investigation.
Butts said in the statement that police officers stopped Bostic at 9:25 p.m. on March 10 near the intersection of Hillcrest Boulevard and Nutwood Street. Officers moved to detain him after seeing what they believed was an attempt to hide an object.
“During the detention, a brief struggle occurred,” Butts wrote.
Officers arrested Bostic, though the mayor did not say why police stopped him, if they found a hidden object, or why they arrested him. Butts said police called paramedics to the scene of the arrest to examine Bostic, who was sweating profusely and had bruising on his face.
Officers drove Bostic to the city’s jail, located in the department headquarters at 1 Manchester Blvd. When they arrived at the station, Butts said, Bostic was unconscious and did not appear to be breathing.
A spokesperson for the LA County Medical Examiner’s office said Bostic was pronounced dead at 10:15 p.m. that night by Inglewood police officers.
Butts, a former chief of police in Santa Monica and deputy chief in Inglewood, said officers called paramedics and tried to administer CPR. Paramedics tried CPR for several minutes after their arrival and were the ones to declare Bostic dead, Butts said.
Butts said Chief Mark Fronterotta told him and City Council members of Bostic’s death within six hours, and the city immediately reported the incident to the LA County District Attorney’s Office for review.
Butts said the information in the statement is preliminary, pending an in-depth investigation, and that the city awaits the medical examiner’s findings.
The County of Los Angeles Fire Department’s personnel responded to calls for paramedics on March 10 at the scene of the arrest and at the city jail, a spokesperson for the agency said. The department is the city’s contracted fire agency.
The spokesperson declined to comment further, citing an ongoing investigation, and did not answer whether its paramedics were the ones to declare Bostic deceased.
Here’s how Bostic’s loved ones described him
Bostic was a wise, visionary voice to the people around him, family and friends said.
“He was a pillar of his community, something like a prophet,” said Castillo, Bostic’s cousin.
Jerion Ballot, Bostic’s neighbor and friend for more than two decades, said he was an inspiration.
“He checked in on everybody. He was a son of God,” he said.
Ballot said he’d spoken to Bostic just a day before his death about getting into a studio to record more music. Bostic was a rapper with a Nipsey Hussle-like flow, Ballot said.
“I broke down crying the day I heard it,” Ballot said.
Marie Darden, Bostic’s aunt, said he was as close to her as a son. He was always positive, she said, often reaching out to people with helpful messages for the day.
“For them to rip him from us with no explanation, it’s unacceptable,” Darden said.
Castillo said it was still unbelievable to see Bostic’s face printed on T-shirts and his name hand-painted on rally signs.
“We see it all the time,” Castillo said, “but I just never thought it would be my family.”
