May 15, 2010

Taser Autopsy: Jaesun Ingles (Midlothian, IL)

Three unidentified Midlothian police officers chased down 31-year old Jaesun Ingles and killed him with one or more taser blasts on March 10. The police tried to cover-up the use of the taser in their police report. The Cook County medical examiner continues the cover-up by failing to mention anything about the officers' use of a taser and its contribution to Ingles' death.

The Cook County medical examiner's office has ruled the March 10 death of Ingles was an accident, the result of choking on a plastic bag he was trying to swallow as he struggled with Midlothian police. [SOURCE]

Neither the police nor the medical examiner comment on the use of the Taser in their report of the incident. Ingles' family for weeks has tried to get information about his death, to no avail.

"It's like they're trying to hide something. They think if they wait long enough, people will just let it go and move on," Ingles' cousin, Leon Jones, of Joliet. "We just want to know what happened."
Dr. Ponni Arunkumar, of the medical examiner's office, conducted Ingles' autopsy and ruled the death an accident. Her report states Ingles died from "aspiration of plastic bag during arrest."

The autopsy report makes no mention of any drugs found in Ingles' system at the time of his death.

Police had said the Taser use was left off the official police report because the investigation was being turned over to the Illinois State Police's public integrity unit, which would provide a more detailed report upon completion of its investigation.

The cover-up is always worse than the crime. I suspect that we haven't heard the last on this case. The small town mentality of the police and the medical examiner won't survive the glare of public scrutiny.

Jaesun Ingles should not have had marijuana on his person ... however the penalty for having marijuana or for resisting arrest should never be DEATH. The police used their tasers to kill this man. That should be unacceptable in our nation.

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