http://www.wistv.com/story/23178374/fam ... sons-death
wistv.com wrote:A family is looking for answers after their adult son died following a run-in with police. The video is hard to watch. It shows the man on the roof of his apartment complex, and after he jumps down, he is swarmed by police, repeatedly tazed and dragged down some stairs.
On July 28 at an apartment complex near 23rd Avenue and Indian School, several Phoenix police officers were trying to get 44-year-old Ruiz to come down from the roof. When he did, he was placed in a chokehold, tazed several times and told to stop resisting. According to witness video, Ruiz was in that position for at least three minutes. Finally his hands and feet were handcuffed, and he was dragged down the stairs with his head unsupported.
"We were both sort of in shock so we went down there the next morning, and he was on life support," said Ruiz's father, Richard Erickson, a retired LAPD detective. He said doctors at St. Joseph's Hospital told him his son was brain-dead. He saw an EMS report, stating his son had been tased five times and had to be resuscitated at the scene.
He took his son off life support on Aug. 2.
Discussion topic: what can be done to decrease the number of incidents of police brutality, which are becoming more and more common in the United States?
More details on the above story;
http://www.policestateusa.com/2013/poli ... lling-him/
Michael Angel Ruiz is the son of a retired LAPD detective and had a history of drug addiction. On July 28, for reasons unknown, he climbed onto the roof of his apartment. Witnesses called the police to protect his safety. This turned out to have been a fatal decision.
Ruiz, while he may not have been sober, was not acting aggressively towards anyone. Police attempted to get him to come down without success. They resorted to tasing him on the roof, a violation of Phoenix Police Department’s own department policy against using a stun gun on someone who is in danger of falling, reported Sara Goldenberg of ABC 15 Arizona. Witnesses say that police tased him several times on the rooftop.
After sustaining electric shocks from police, Ruiz complied with requests to come off the roof. Video taken by witnesses shows him hopping down to a balcony. An unidentified Phoenix police officer immediately greeted him with a choke-hold. Police used overwhelming force on the man, who had still shown no signs of aggression. Witness Gary Carthen told ABC 15 that Ruiz was “getting choked out and tased at the same time.” He remained in a choke-hold for at least three minutes, reported KPHO.
The most disturbing moments were to come. Michael Ruiz, now fully restrained, was dragged down the concrete stairs on his face. As deputies held his arms behind his back, they allowed his head to dangle and thump against every stair. At this point Ruiz may have already lost consciousness, and was making no attempt to lift his head. Video shows him lifelessly suffering head trauma on the descent down the stair case.
“I just felt sick to my stomach,” said Richard Erickson, the man’s father, to ABC 15. “I’d never seen anything like this before, even when I was with the police department.”
Ruiz had to be resuscitated at the scene, but was determined to be brain-dead at the hospital, according to KPHO. His family took him off of life-support on August 2.
He was probably tripping or drunk and in his intoxicated state thought getting on the roof might be fun. Because he's intoxicated, he wasn't able to respond coherently to the police and didn't immediately leave the roof when they asked, so the cops start tazing him while he's on the roof, despite PPD policy which prohibits the use of tazers when the victim is in danger of falling. When he finally complies and gets down from the roof, the cops immediately put him in a chokehold for three full minutes and tazer him at least one (and possibly more) time(s). The man, now entirely unresponsive, is then dragged down a set of concrete stairs, his head hitting the steps hard enough for witnesses to hear the impact. The man stops breathing moments later and had to be resuscitated, and is found to be brain dead at the hospital. His family takes him off life support a few days later.
