Raymond Vitte (November 20, 1949 – February 20, 1983) was an American actor who starred mostly in comedy and drama films in the 1970s and early 1980s. He made numerous guest appearances on television shows and was a cast member of the show Doc in 1976.[1]
Vitte, who had been fevered for days and acting strangely for hours in his Los Angeles home, died in 1983 following a scuffle with two Los Angeles Police Department officers who were transporting Vitte to a nearby hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.[2]
In February 1983, police were called to Vitte's home in Studio City by neighbors claiming that a man had been making "religious shoutings laced with references to Muhammad" for more than 12 hours".[2] Vitte allegedly lunged at one of the officers who subsequently struck him with a baton. Vitte attempted to run away, but was struck again by officers who also used tear gas with no effect.[3] After Vitte ran away again, he fell down at the side of a swimming pool where officers handcuffed him and placed him into a squad car. En route to a hospital for a mental evaluation, the officers noticed Vitte had stopped breathing. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.[2]
A group including singer Donna Summer and the president of the Beverly Hills-Hollywood chapter of the NAACP protested Vitte's death in a news conference,[4] with Summer saying "...a man who's basically minding his own business in his own home, who happens to be creating a disturbance somehow, is now dead because his neighbors called the police".
A spokesman for the coroner's office said preliminary results of an autopsy showed "superficial injuries consistent with a struggle" but which were "not responsible for his death".[4] According to the coroner's report, Vitte died of complications from sickle cell disease.[5]
References
^Fearn-Banks, Kathleen. "Ray Vitte." The A to Z of African-American Television, Scarecrow Press, 2009, pp. 464–464.
