Man, Tasered by Pasadena Police, Dies Following Confrontation

[UPDATED]   A Pasadena man died Friday morning after being tasered by Pasadena police during a struggle at his home, according to law enforcement, which stressed that no shots were fired in the incident.

According to Captain Steve Katz of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which is handling the investigation, a total of six Pasadena police officers responded to 252 East Orange Grove Avenue at 2:20 a.m. Friday morning, following two calls from a man believed to be the victim.

When police arrived, they found the man, who reportedly suffered from mental health issues, armed with a knife and a fire extinguisher.

As officers attempted to subdue the man, who has not yet been identified, a struggle which spilled out through the doorway of the apartment ensued as the victim resisted, Katz said.

The victim, described as an African-American man in his 30’s, eventually released the fire extinguisher and then locked the police out of the apartment, Katz reported.

The police forcibly re-entered the apartment and tasered the victim twice in their efforts to place him into custody.

Once the victim was subdued, said Katz, officers noticed that he was struggling to breathe. The officer called paramedics and attempted to resuscitate him. He was pronounced dead by paramedics.

According to Shainie Lindsay, who told reporters at the scene she was the man’s partner and had four children with him, the victim had a history of mental illness.

“He’s bipolar, he’s crazy,” she told reporters. “They was wrestling with him, was kicking him in the head and beating him with the baton stick,” Lindsay told reporters. “Then, after that, they was doing CPR and then he was dead.”

The death prompted an angry gathering of apartment complex residents and neighbors, who questioned and confronted the police as well as news crews. Black Lives Matter Pasadena leader and activist Jasmine Abdullah Richards screamed at the police repeatedly, “You killed my friend!”

A statement released by the Police Department said “the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau was asked to respond along with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office Investigators and conduct the investigation. Despite earlier reports, this was not an Officer Involved Shooting, a firearm was not involved.”

Councilmember John Kennedy said he hopes “there will be a thorough and transparent and fair investigation into what exactly took place.”

“The death of another African-American male in an encounter with Pasadena Police requires an independent review just as with the Kendrick McDade and LeRoy Barnes shootings,” said civil rights attorneys Dale Gronemier and Skip Hickambottom.

Captain Katz emphasized that no shots were fired in the struggle, and that the Sheriff’s Department would conduct a full investigation into the incident.