Kailani Blair, 19, drove past Circle K at West McDowell Road and North 91st Avenue in Maryvale on her way to work on Friday afternoon, as she always does. She counted 10 police units in the gas station parking lot.

“I wonder what’s going on there,” she thought. She had no idea that her brother, with whom she was very close, was lying dead in that parking lot, obscured by white SUVs.

Caleb Blair, also 19, died in police custody shortly before 3 p.m. Friday. It was 112 degrees outside at the time, the highest temperature ever recorded on June 10 in Phoenix, according to the National Weather Service at Phoenix.

According to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner, Caleb’s body was extremely hot even after he died.

“My son is gone,” said Caleb’s father, Frank Blair. Phoenix New Times in an interview on Monday. “I’m still trying to process that.”

Caleb had been homeless on the streets of Phoenix “for quite some time,” according to his father, who also said his son was battling a fentanyl addiction.

On Friday, he sought relief from the scorching midday heat inside this West Phoenix convenience store. He asked if he could sit inside and cool off. A clerk inside the store told him no.

Shortly after, Caleb stripped and rolled on the floor, banging his head against cars just outside the store. He was “showing signs of weakening,” according to the Phoenix Police Department.

Several units arrived on the scene. Although police responded to a call “about someone injured or ill”, they quickly placed Caleb in handcuffs. It is not known who dialed 911.

“That’s a huge response for someone who was unarmed,” Frank Blair said.

Caleb’s death in Phoenix echoes George Floyd. In both incidents, cops responded to a black man struggling with a fentanyl-fueled health crisis.

It remains unclear why Blair was handcuffed as paramedics attempted to save his life. He remained in chains until his outlook deteriorated.

“While receiving treatment, Blair lost consciousness,” Sergeant Vincent Cole said in a news release Friday. “His handcuffs were removed and lifesaving measures were taken. Blair was then transported to a local hospital where he died.

The actions of the agents will be the subject of an internal and criminal investigation. In February, new times reported that the majority of Arizonans believe the police should not investigate themselves.

Caleb’s family agrees.

Frank Blair, a 60-year-old black man who has spent his life in Colorado and Arizona, has encountered good cops and bad cops, “some of the worst,” he said. He sees a culture in the Phoenix Police Department that favors protecting members of the white community over black people.

“All it takes is one apple to spoil the bouquet,” he said. “I know that. I’ve been through that.

Caleb has been described as “very respectful to the police” by his family.

“With us as black people, it’s not about ‘if’, it’s ‘when’, whatever your lifestyle is,” her father said.

The police department will issue a briefing on this critical incident on June 24, Sgt. Philip Krynsky said. new times. The briefing will contain audio, visuals and information relating to the death.

The police department does not comment on ongoing investigations, Krynsky confirmed.

It’s frustrating for Caleb’s family, who are still trying to clarify their loved one’s death. Police told reporters he died at a local hospital, but Frank Blair recalls being told he died in the parking lot.

“I still don’t know where my son died,” he said.

Frank Blair visited Circle K before sunrise on Saturday morning. He stayed there for several hours, reflecting on his son’s life.

Caleb was one of 12 siblings and the youngest of five boys. He was exceptionally close to his two younger sisters, rarely seen doing anything without them. He practiced taekwondo and played football at Copper Canyon High School in Glendale, where he also became interested in STEM fields. He was a gifted diesel mechanic, according to his family.

“Caleb had a drug problem,” his father said. “But he was a very intelligent, very loving and sharing individual.”

Friends and family describe Caleb as witty and precocious. However, there were two sides to the teenager.

“When he wasn’t in his right mind with drugs, he couldn’t live with us,” Frank Blair said. “But I made it a point to find him.”

Frank Blair spent 20 hours a week looking for his son, sitting with him, giving him food and water. The last time they saw each other, Frank gave Caleb a tent and a cell phone.

He didn’t know he would never see his son again. But he “wasn’t surprised” either when cops broke the grim news on Friday night.

“I wasn’t sure he was going to live very long, but he was doing better and it looked like he was coming back to us,” said the father of Caleb, who lost another son in a shooting. “He said he was going to come home in August and try to start over and clean himself up. I was afraid he wouldn’t go that far. And I was right.”