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Healthy 18 year old dead: had been stunned with a Taser gun
Cleveland Plain Dealer| May 29 2005
An 18-year-old Akron man died soon after a Springfield Township policewoman stunned him with a Taser gun Saturday.
Richard T. Holcomb was pronounced dead at 2:05 a.m. at Akron City Hospital. The Summit County medical examiner was performing an autopsy Saturday and declined to release preliminary findings. Holcomb's body was being tested for drugs.
Township police Capt. Garry Moneypenny and resident Deborah Hartman provided the following description of what happened.
Hartman, 48, called police at 12:45 a.m., saying three people were loitering behind her house near her horse barn. She heard them talking through a monitor in her barn that relays sound to a speaker in her house.
Patrolwoman Christine Albrecht, 28, responded alone and saw just Holcomb in the yard. He was walking toward her, shirtless in the cool air.
Albrecht called for backup.
Holcomb was singing and talking nonsense and would not answer basic questions, such as his name or address. When asked his age, he incorrectly said 17.
Holcomb started walking away from Albrecht. She climbed over a pasture fence to follow. She heard him mutter phrases "somebody's gonna die tonight" and "kill somebody," Moneypenny said.
Holcomb sat down in the field, still incoherent and not answering questions. Then the 6-foot-2 man got up and ran toward the 5-foot-6, 125-pound policewoman. She ordered him to stop. He didn't.
Still alone in the dark, Albrecht did not hesitate. The Taser's two barbed wires delivered 50,000 volts to Holcomb, paralyzing his muscles. He dropped to the ground and Albrecht handcuffed him.
She radioed for an ambulance - the department's procedure when a suspect is stunned with a Taser.
About 10 minutes after Albrecht had asked for backup, two more officers arrived.
Moneypenny said Holcomb "had stopped moaning. He didn't look too good."
The officers removed the handcuffs and paramedics took him to the hospital.
Police contacted township residents who were having parties, trying to find out who the victim was since he had no identification on him. Someone recognized Holcomb's description, and police located Holcomb's mother on Gibbs Road in Akron, where he also lived.
The death was the second in five months in the county involving someone struck by a Taser. In January, Dennis Hyde, 30, of Hartville died after Akron police used the device on him. Summit County Medical Examiner Lisa Kohler said a combination of methamphetamine use and the Taser caused Hyde's fatal heart attack.
And last month, Lucas County Coroner James Patrick ruled that Toledo resident Jeffrey Turner, 41, died in January of heart disease and Taser shocks. Police and jailers zapped Turner nine times within three hours during his arrest and booking.
It could be weeks before Kohler receives the results of drug tests on Holcomb, who had a criminal record including drug arrests.
The Summit County prosecutor and a grand jury
will review the case and decide whether Albrecht's use of force was justified.
