Post by WaTcHeR on Apr 18, 2006 15:03:31 GMT -5
04/17/2006 - City police officers shot a man twice with Tasers, then scuffled with him, a friend who witnessed the incident said Monday.
Hours after that Saturday scuffle, Nick Mamino Jr., 41, was dead.
Dee Francis said she called police early Saturday because Mamino was drunk and refused to leave her duplex in the 500 block of East Church Street. He wasn't acting violently, she said, but she was tired and wanted to go to sleep.
When officers arrived about 4 a.m., Mamino was sitting on the front porch. When he saw them, he ran and jumped a fence into her backyard before running inside her duplex through a back door, Francis said.
Two officers shot him with Tasers inside the duplex, she said.
Mamino stumbled outside before collapsing in the yard, where the struggle with officers took place. Francis said one officer pinned Mamino down on his back, while another kicked him. A third officer punched Mamino, she said.
"I've never seen nothing like that," said Francis, 41.
Mamino was the son of Nick Mamino Sr., the Collinsville police chief in 1981-89. Nick Mamino Sr. died in 2001.
Police Chief Scott Williams said Monday that he could not confirm whether officers had used Tasers because of an ongoing investigation by the Illinois State Police. He said that the four officers who responded Saturday did not use excessive force and that the officers involved continue working their regular shifts.
It's routine for the Illinois State Police to investigate when a death occurs in police custody, said Lt. Greg Fernandez.
Madison County Coroner Steve Nonn said Mamino suffered injuries consistent with a struggle but nothing to indicate that he was fatally beaten. Nonn stressed that autopsy results and an official cause of death will not be available for several weeks.
Brian Mamino, who is Nick Mamino Jr.'s brother, said Monday that he is furious about how police officers handled the situation. He said the officers should be fired and lose their retirement benefits as punishment for his brother's death.
"Nobody deserves to die like that," Brian Mamino said, adding that his brother made many mistakes.
Nick Mamino Jr.'s many run-ins with the law included an armed robbery conviction for holding up a Collinsville service station, as well as a conviction for taking the purse of a 70-year-old woman. He also was arrested in 1988 while working as a horse trainer at Fairmount Park racetrack as part of a sting operation, and later pleaded guilty of a cocaine-related charge.
"Everybody makes mistakes in their life, and he did, too," Brian Mamino said.
He said he visited his brother at Anderson Hospital in Maryville on Saturday as he was hooked to life support.
His face was covered in bruises, and he had wounds on his chest and right abdomen, Brian Mamino said. Nick Mamino Jr., a carpenter with a 10-year-old son, never regained consciousness.
Brian Mamino said that they were both raised by their father to trust and honor police officers but that his brother's death made him lose that respect.
Said Brian Mamino, "What I believed in as a kid is gone."
Hours after that Saturday scuffle, Nick Mamino Jr., 41, was dead.
Dee Francis said she called police early Saturday because Mamino was drunk and refused to leave her duplex in the 500 block of East Church Street. He wasn't acting violently, she said, but she was tired and wanted to go to sleep.
When officers arrived about 4 a.m., Mamino was sitting on the front porch. When he saw them, he ran and jumped a fence into her backyard before running inside her duplex through a back door, Francis said.
Two officers shot him with Tasers inside the duplex, she said.
Mamino stumbled outside before collapsing in the yard, where the struggle with officers took place. Francis said one officer pinned Mamino down on his back, while another kicked him. A third officer punched Mamino, she said.
"I've never seen nothing like that," said Francis, 41.
Mamino was the son of Nick Mamino Sr., the Collinsville police chief in 1981-89. Nick Mamino Sr. died in 2001.
Police Chief Scott Williams said Monday that he could not confirm whether officers had used Tasers because of an ongoing investigation by the Illinois State Police. He said that the four officers who responded Saturday did not use excessive force and that the officers involved continue working their regular shifts.
It's routine for the Illinois State Police to investigate when a death occurs in police custody, said Lt. Greg Fernandez.
Madison County Coroner Steve Nonn said Mamino suffered injuries consistent with a struggle but nothing to indicate that he was fatally beaten. Nonn stressed that autopsy results and an official cause of death will not be available for several weeks.
Brian Mamino, who is Nick Mamino Jr.'s brother, said Monday that he is furious about how police officers handled the situation. He said the officers should be fired and lose their retirement benefits as punishment for his brother's death.
"Nobody deserves to die like that," Brian Mamino said, adding that his brother made many mistakes.
Nick Mamino Jr.'s many run-ins with the law included an armed robbery conviction for holding up a Collinsville service station, as well as a conviction for taking the purse of a 70-year-old woman. He also was arrested in 1988 while working as a horse trainer at Fairmount Park racetrack as part of a sting operation, and later pleaded guilty of a cocaine-related charge.
"Everybody makes mistakes in their life, and he did, too," Brian Mamino said.
He said he visited his brother at Anderson Hospital in Maryville on Saturday as he was hooked to life support.
His face was covered in bruises, and he had wounds on his chest and right abdomen, Brian Mamino said. Nick Mamino Jr., a carpenter with a 10-year-old son, never regained consciousness.
Brian Mamino said that they were both raised by their father to trust and honor police officers but that his brother's death made him lose that respect.
Said Brian Mamino, "What I believed in as a kid is gone."