MENTALLY RETARDED BLACK MAN DEAD AFTER ALLEGEDLY BEING TAZED BY POLICE
Date: Tuesday, February 8, 2011, 4:38 AM Central
REPORTER: TONY BROWN
EYES OPEN RADIO
(318)792-5940
ALEXANDRIA, LA,
LOUISIANA STATE POLICE ARE INVESTIGATING THE DEATH OF A YOUNG BLACK MAN WHO APPARENTLY DIED AFTER BEING TAZED AT LEAST TWICE BY TWO SEPARATE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES.
TWENTY-THREE YEAR OLD ROBERT RICKS DIED SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, ABOUT AN HOUR AFTER BEING ARRESTED FOR SIMPLE BATTERY AND RESISTING AN OFFICER ACCORDING TO THE LOUISIANA STATE POLICE.
ALTHOUGH STATE POLICE WOULD NOT CONFIRM REPORTS BY THE FAMILY OF RICKS THAT HE WAS TASED ONCE AT THE HOME OF HIS GRANDMOTHER, 85-YEAR-OLD MAXINE JONES WHO SAYS SHE CALLED 911 FOR AN AMBULANCE AFTER HER GRANDSON HAS A SEVERE SEIZURE JUST BEFORE 10PM AT HER HOME ON 716 APPLE WHITE STREET IN ALEXANDRIA.
RICKS FAMILY SAYS THE YOUNG MAN WAS MENTALLY RETARDED AND WAS ON STRONG MEDICATION AND HAS JUST BEEN CHECKED TWO DAYS EARLIER FROM FROM CROSSROADS HOSPITAL, A TREATMENT FACILITY FOR PATIENTS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS.
ALTHOUGH POLICE WERE NEVER CALLED BY THE FAMILY,THE ALEXANDRIA POLICE REPORT CONFIRMS THAT THEY WERE CALLED BY ACADIAN AMBULANCE, FAMILY AND WITNESSES SAY ABOUT 6 POLICE UNITS RESPONDED TO THE RESIDENCE SCARING THE MENTALLY RETARDED MAN WHOM THEY SAY SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ARRESTED.
THE GRANDMOTHER MAXINE JONES, WHOM WHICH THE YOUNG MAN LIVED DENIES POLICE ACCOUNT THAT THE BOY ASSAULTED HER AND SAYS SHE TOLD POLICE HE WAS MENTALLY ILL AND SAYS SHE WAS PROMISED BY ALEXANDRIA POLICE OFFICERS THAT HE WOULD BE TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL.
SHE SAYS HER GRANDSON HAD A DEADLY FEAR OF POLICE, POSSIBLY BECAUSE OF HIS MENTAL ILLNESS AND HAS NEVER IN HIS LIFE LIFTED A HAND TO HURT HER WHICH IS A DIRECT CONFLICT OF THE POLICE REPORT.
WITNESSES WHO HAD GATHERED AT THE SCENE TOLD MAXINE JONES THAT THEY SAW AN ALEXANDRIA OFFICER STRIKE THE YOUNG MAN REPEATEDLY IN THE HEAD WHILE HE WAS HANDCUFFED WHILE PUTTING HIM IN THE SQUAD CAR.
EYES OPEN NEWS ALSO HAVE BEEN TOLD BY OUR SOURCES THAT YOUNG RICKS MAY HAVE BEEN TASED A SECOND TIME BY JAILERS AT THE RAPIDES PARISH JAIL WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE THAT HE WAS TASED ONLY MINUTES EARLIER BY ALEXANDRIA POLICE.
THIS IS THE SECOND TIME IN AS MANY YEARS THAT AN UNARMED BLACK MAN HAS DIED WHILE IN POLICE CUSTODY IN CENTRAL LOUISIANA AFTER BEING TASED.
TWENTY ONE YEAR OLD BARON "SCOOTER" PIKES , WHO WAS BLACK DIED IN WINNFIELD, LA BACK IN JANUARY 2008 AFTER BEING TASED 9 TIMES IN A 14 MINUTE PERIOD BY FORMER OFFICER SCOTT NUGENT, WHO IS WHITE. NUGENT OFFICER WAS FOUND NOT GUILTY BY A JURY OF 10 WHITES AND 2 BLACK IN NOVEMBER OF LAST YEAR. A CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATION CASE IS PENDING IN FEDERAL COURT.+
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