Autopsy on Man Shot With Taser Inconclusive

The first phase of an autopsy on a 31-year-old burglary suspect who died last week after police officers shot him with Taser stun guns and struck him with night sticks failed to reveal the cause of death, coroner’s officials said Monday.

Coroner’s spokesman Bill Gold said the surgical phase of the autopsy proved inconclusive but that toxicology tests on blood and tissue samples still must be performed. Gold said it may be several weeks before tests are completed.

Authorities are withholding the man’s identity because they cannot find his relatives, Gold said.

The man was killed early Thursday after he was confronted by police in a darkened classroom at the French American School, a private bilingual institution operated out of a renovated home in the 14700 block of Victory Boulevard.

The officers went there after a witness called police to report seeing a man “repeatedly striking his head on the curb” in front of the school, police Lt. Charles Higbie said. The man later climbed a wire mesh fence, broke into the school and was “kicking and cursing an imaginary individual or individuals” when two police officers discovered him, Higbie said.

When the suspect, described as in his 30s, tried to flee, Higbie said, each officer shot him twice with Taser guns, devices that fire needle-like darts that deliver 50,000 volts of low-amperage electricity designed to stun but not kill.

The man, after lapsing into a coma at a nearby hospital, died about an hour later, Higbie said.