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JSO officers on leave after man's death were both in trouble last year

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville father is dead after a scuffle with police inside a convenience store.

Now Action News Jax has uncovered the disciplinary history of the two officers who are on leave.

RELATED: Jacksonville police: Man brought to hospital for evaluation under the Baker Act dies

New records from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office show both officers were in trouble last year.

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“Certain things don’t look right. It doesn’t add up,” said Jalen Mays’ brother Bri’Shod Mays.

Mays said he wants answers about how his brother died, leaving four children fatherless.

“He was a very ambitious man. He loved his kids. He was my brother. My keeper,” said Mays.

JSO said officers were called to a westside convenience store Tuesday night because Jalen Mays was causing a disturbance.

Several witnesses told Action News Jax he was acting erratically and foaming at the mouth.

JSO said Mays told officers, “Kill me,” and got into a struggle with them.

Police said Mays had trouble breathing when paramedics put him in the back of an ambulance.

JSO said he was stabilized at the hospital, where he was detained under the Baker Act because he may have been a danger to himself or others.

He died Thursday morning.

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“We look very identical. I walked in the hospital room and I did not recognize who I was looking at,” said Bri’Shod Mays.

Mays acknowledges his brother had a history of drug use and health issues but said that doesn’t explain why his face was swollen and bruised.

Two officers are now on administrative leave.

Action News Jax got ahold of their concise officer histories Friday, which show what the officers have been accused of at JSO and what kind of discipline, if any, they received.

The records showed Officer Stuart Maddox got “formal counseling” last year for “interference with an investigation.”

Officer Matthew Reddish had sustained accusations of “rudeness” last year and a chargeable crash in 2017, according to his concise officer history.

Action News Jax has asked JSO for all documentation of the two officers’ prior discipline so we can learn details about what they reportedly did wrong.

JSO denied Action News Jax's request for the body camera footage of their scuffle with Jalen Mays, even though the agency released body camera video in December 2018 showing what led up to an officer shooting a dog to death.

JSO spokesperson Officer Melissa Bujeda said that’s because the dog investigation was already over when the Sheriff's Office released that video and the investigation into Mays’ death is still open.