In possibly his last recorded conversation before ending up in a coma, Kevin Higgenbotham called police for help.

In the 9-1-1 recording obtained by The Trentonian through a public records request, the Trenton resident asks the dispatcher to send some assistance to his home on the 200 block of Bellevue Avenue.

“I have someone on my driveway that’s trespassing, he won’t leave,” Higgenbotham pleads to the dispatcher at 8:34 a.m. on June 15.

Forty minutes later, Higgenbotham was transported to Capital Health Regional Medical Center where went into cardiac arrest. The medical emergency left him in a coma that he has yet to recover from. His attorney Stanley King, of Woodbury-based King & King, alleges police repeatedly beat Higgenbotham with batons and pepper strayed him, causing the 47-year-old to be put in his incapacitated state.

King said Higgenbotham suffers from bipolar disorder and was experiencing an episode the morning he called police. The attorney said the trespasser Higgenbotham reported to police was his cousin, who lived with the family at the Bellevue Avenue home.

“I live here,” a man believing to be Higgenbotham’s cousin says in the 9-1-1 recording. “I got mail in here.”

In the phone call, Higgenbotham disagrees with his relative’s statement and asks him to get his mail to prove it. He also tells the dispatcher that it is not a family member.

“I don’t know who he is,” Higgenbotham tells the dispatcher. “We’ll find out when (the police) get here. You send them right away.”

In the phone call that last 2 minutes, 40 seconds, Higgenbotham at times is unintelligible. He does provide the dispatcher his first and last name, and spells it.

Approximately 6 minutes later, police arrive on the scene.

In their account of the events that transpired, police claim Higgenbotham was under the influence of drugs and that he assaulted his family member when they arrived.

The dispatch report, also obtained by The Trentonian, shows 25 minutes pass before Higgenbotham is placed under custody after the first of four police cars arrive on the scene.

King, who intends to sue Trenton for the officers’ actions, believes that amount of time that passed before any arrest was because police were talking to Higgenbotham and his mother.

“His mother begged and pleaded with police that he just wasn’t on his medication, he need to get his meds adjusted,” King said Wednesday, noting she asked police to take him to the crisis center. “He’s wasn’t going to do anything to anyone.”

Police said when officers encountered Higgenbotham outside the home to arrest him for the alleged assault that he ran into the residence.

King contends the officers never had a right to enter the home, especially since Higgenbotham placed the distress call for help.

“It’s just a clear case of the officers not responding and knowing how to deal with someone exhibiting some type of mental distress,” King said. “He didn’t commit a crime. There were no excruciating circumstances warranting them to go into his home.”

The dispatch notes outline someone was “armed (with) something at location” and when Higgenbotham went upstairs that it was “unknown if he has any weapons.”

“There was no weapon at all,” King said, adding it was the first time hearing the allegation.

Police used pepper spay on Higgenbotham in the home, which they said seemed to have no effect.

Higgenbotham was eventually placed in a paddy wagon with his hands cuffed behind his back. Police said when Higgenbotham was in the vehicle, he became combative and started kicking the windows.

In the dispatch report, the hospital was “notified to get restraints ready.”

King calls the Trenton police officers’ actions “egregious” and something that “never should have happened.”

“We think it’s really a shame that he is the person who actually initiated the call asking for officers to come, tied together with the fact that it wasn’t probably a real emergency, but him ending up in a coma is just insane,” the attorney said.

Higgenbotham, who was charged with simple assault, criminal mischief, improper behavior and resisting arrest, remains in a hospital bed at Statesman Health & Rehabilitation in Levittown, Pa.

“He’s still in a very serious condition,” King said. “It doesn’t really look good. We’re just keeping our fingers crossed at this point.”

The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office launched a probe immediately following the arrest. A prosecutor’s office spokesman said Thursday that the investigation is ongoing.

In the last snippets of the 9-1-1 call, the dispatcher tells Higgenbotham that an officer was being dispatched.

“Thank you very much,” he responds. “Have a good day.”

By David Foster for The Trentonian

City resident Kevin Higgenbotham has remained in a coma since June 15.

And his attorneys and family are telling a different story than police as to why he is in that condition.

“In the police report, the officers admit that he was beaten with batons,” attorney Stanley King said Monday, noting wounds to his client’s neck, torso and arms. “There are a number of other things that they did, which I’m not totally at liberty to discuss right now, but it is very clear to us based on our preliminary investigation that the officers’ conduct that day was the reason that this man is totally incapacitated.”

The day after the June 15 incident, Trenton police said they responded to the scene for a verbal dispute call. Police claimed Higgenbotham, 47, was under the influence of drugs and allegedly assaulted a family member when they arrived.

To the contrary, court documents filed by Woodbury, N.J.-based King & King contend Higgenbotham was suffering a bipolar episode. His mother allegedly advised officers of his condition when they arrived to the home on the 200 block of Bellevue Avenue and told them her son needed to be sent to the crisis unit.

The attorneys also outline that Higgenbotham called Trenton police to complain a resident of the house was trespassing.

What both police and his attorneys can agree on is that Higgenbotham became agitated when police arrived and that he was pepper sprayed.

Police said officers encountered Higgenbotham outside of the home, and when they tried to arrest him for the assault, he ran into the residence. Officers then chased him into the house and at some point sprayed him with pepper spray, which seemed to have no effect.

Trenton police previously did not disclose that officers used their batons on Higgenbotham.

Police said Higgenbotham escaped from a third-story window before jumping off the roof, a claim his attorneys deny.

“That’s highly unlikely,” said Sharon A. King, a partner at King & King. “The building that he came out of had a fire escape that went down to the floor. He actually climbed down the fire escape. He didn’t jump from the roof of any buildings.”

Shortly after, Higgenbotham was arrested and placed in a paddy wagon with his hands cuffed behind his back, the attorneys said.

“The physical injuries might have not been apparent, but obviously there were injuries,” Stanley King said.

Police said while Higgenbotham was in the vehicle, he became combative and started kicking the windows. Because of his erratic behavior, police said, officers on-scene made the decision to take him to the crisis unit for evaluation. He was then escorted to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he was restrained, and shortly after went into cardiac arrest.

Sharon King said Higgenbotham’s condition “doesn’t look good.”

“The family is trying to remain optimistic,” she said. “Medically, there’s no indication that he will be out of it.”

Authorities said Trenton Police Director Ernest Parrey Jr. immediately called the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office and internal affairs after being notified.

“Director Parrey notified those agencies about the incident because we want to remain transparent,” Lt. Steven Varn previously said at the time. “We wanted to make sure the other agencies were involved from the start due to the nature and circumstances of the incident.”

An active investigation still remains, the attorneys said.

Earlier this month — on behalf of Higgenbotham’s daughter — the Kings filed an intent to sue the city and the police department for the officers’ actions.

“Based on the family’s version at the scene, they weren’t aware of any mental health professionals called to the scene,” Sharon King said. “I think the day before he actually called the police and they had responded to the house and he was mouthing off on them. It was clear to them at that time as well that he was in the midst of an episode. This should not have been news to them.”

The attorney added Higgenbotham was prescribed medication for his bipolar disorder.

“It wasn’t clear whether he had been on or off them,” Sharon King said.

Police claim Higgenbotham had drugs in his system and had not slept for at least two days.

Higgenbotham is charged with simple assault, criminal mischief, improper behavior and resisting arrest.

Trenton police did not respond to a request seeking comment on the potential litigation.

Staff writer Penny Ray contributed to this report.

By David Foster written for Trentonian.com