DE MOTTE, Ind. (WISH) — A 26-year-old man died in Jasper County after police pinned him to the ground during a medical emergency, an attorney says.

Now, his family wants answers.

On Sept. 8, Rhyker Earl had two seizures. Emergency medical technicians treated him for the first one and said he didn’t need to go to the hospital.

His family later called 911 when he had a second seizure.

Steve Wagner, the attorney for the family, said, “During that medical encounter, he was still confused post-seizure. He was trying to put on his shorts to go to the hospital, and he fell over and bumped into either an officer or an EMT, and immediately the encounter changed. They stopped treating him as a patient and started treating him as a criminal.”

According to the Earl family’s attorney, a Jasper County sheriff’s officer then yelled, “You don’t treat law enforcement that way,” before escalating the situation.

Wagner said, “Threw him on the ground, cuffed his hands behind his back, stayed on top of him for an extended period of time. His face was in a pillow.”

That’s when EMTs gave him something. “They gave him three different administrations of some type of sedative,” Wagner said.

The situation became even more dire.

“He plead for his life. He said he couldn’t breath right in front of his aunt and grandmother, and then he went limp, turned blue, and, even then, it was the family that had to point out to EMTs, ‘Please, check him. He’s not breathing,’ and unfortunately, at that point, it was too late,” Wagner said.

Earl left behind two young children. He was laid to rest by his family on Wednesday.

Wagner said of the family, “They’re angry, anguished. It’s an extremely difficult time for them. They want answers and, if it’s what we believe it is, then they want accountability.”

Indiana State Police say they are investigating whether any of the EMTs or law enforcement involved could be criminally charged. The investigation could determine whether the family can sue for what happened.

Jasper County, which has 33,500 residents, is in northwest Indiana. It’s about a 1-hour, 45-minute drive northwest of downtown Indianapolis.