Bodycam video released of firefighter charged in wife’s overdose death
A former North Las Vegas firefighter charged with murder in his wife’s death told officers he was worried that the city would learn of the investigation into his spouse’s overdose, body camera footage in the case shows.
Christopher Candito, 33, was indicted Aug. 4 in District Court on charges of second-degree murder and burglary in the Feb. 23, 2020, death of his wife, Tiffany Slatsky, 25. Authorities allege Candito caused his wife’s overdose by giving her morphine at the couple’s Henderson home, then stole an opioid-overdose antidote from a North Las Vegas fire station to administer to her when she began showing overdose symptoms.
Henderson police body camera and patrol car footage released this week details the Henderson police response to the Candito residence on the morning of Feb. 23, when Slatsky was found unconscious. She died that day at a nearby hospital.
One officer is heard telling another arriving officer that “they were doing morphine last night” and an officer could also be heard saying “he’s a north town fireman, so that is going to be a convoluted layer to this.”
Police are heard on the videos ordering a lockdown of the Candito home as they pursue a search warrant. Police said later in an arrest warrant that they ended up finding multiple drugs, including morphine, in the home.
Officers are heard on the video questioning Candito. Candito tells one officer that the night before, his wife was “acting weird,” so he drove Slatsky across the Las Vegas Valley to a North Las Vegas fire station to give her the opioid-overdose antidote Narcan. Clark County prosecutors have questioned why he drove 23 miles to a North Las Vegas fire station, when he could have driven her to a nearby Henderson hospital for treatment.
“She started acting weird and I’m like, ‘Dude, you are getting in the car,’” Candito is heard saying on the video. “And I took her to the station, and I started to IV her and gave her Narcan.”
A Henderson officer responds, saying “what station? … In north town?”
Another officer asks “you drove all the way to north town?”
“Well she was still alert and orientated, she was just acting weird you know,” Candito responds, adding “so yeah I took her out there and gave her Narcan.”
Candito said he thought his wife was fine so they went to bed that night. He described finding her unresponsive the next morning and confirmed she does not have a prescription for morphine.
“I woke up, rolled over and she was pale,” Candito tells one officer. “And, I mean, I can tell, I’m a medic. I know when someone is sick … so I started doing CPR on her, called 911.”
At another point in the videos, Candito tells police about his employment.
“I work for north town … I don’t want this. I just don’t want anyone calling my work right now,” Candito is heard saying to an officer.
Candito was scheduled to make an initial appearance in court Friday afternoon.
Grand jury transcripts in the case show Henderson police and Drug Enforcement Administration agents ultimately carried out an extensive investigation into Slatsky’s death. The Clark County coroner’s office said Slatsky died from multiple drug intoxication, including MDMA, morphine and cocaine. DEA Special Agent David Behar told a grand jury that police have probed texts about suspected drug transactions between Candito and two other former firefighters, Andrew Clapper and Capt. Nicholas Robison, as well as the particulars of a drug-fueled party attended by several North Las Vegas firefighters at the Golden Nugget two days before Slatsky’s death.
Clapper and Robison have not been charged with any crimes. The city of North Las Vegas said this week both Clapper and Robison have been fired but would not say why, citing personnel issues.
Candito resigned from his job as a firefighter and paramedic.
Contact Glenn Puit by email at g[puit@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GlennatRJ on Twitter.