July 12, 2010

Taser Death: Anibal Rosario-Rodriguez (New Britain, CT)

It happened again. This time a New Britain police officer electrocuted 61-year old Anibal Rosario-Rodriguez to death by jolting 50,000 volts of electricity into his body.

The chief medical examiner’s office is expected to perform an autopsy today on the body of Mr. Rosario-Rodriguez.

New Britain police say an unidentified officer discharged a five-second shock with his Taser while trying to arrest Rosario-Rodriguez during a foot chase for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend.

Police say Rosario-Rodriguez suffered a facial wound when he fell forward during the incident. Authorities say he was conscious when he was taken to the hospital, but later died.

His family said something isn't right, and they wonder if the stun gun led to the cardiac arrest that killed him.  They said Rosario-Rodriguez was a healthy man and think the police department used excessive force in trying to subdue him. They are waiting for the results of an autopsy.

Please let this blog know if you learn of any new information about this taser-related death.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow, I'm sure that a 61-year-old man was a serious threat to the police, and could not have been otherwise subdued: http://lawblog.legalmatch.com/2010/07/15/dont-tase-me-bro-seriously-i-might-die/

Unknown said...

Rusty - I visited the link that you shared. Excellent blog post about taser abuse in America.

re: Anibal's death. I agree. The police use their taser guns out of convenience rather than to save their life.