Post by WaTcHeR on Apr 18, 2006 15:06:04 GMT -5
04/18/2006 - A less-than-lethal weapon turns deadly in a north Lubbock neighborhood. A Lubbock man, and a Texas Tech graduate, dies after being shot with a taser gun.
It all started with a 911 hang-up coming from 4402 Jarvis late Sunday night. As usual on hang-ups, a police officer responded to the address. Just minutes after his arrival on the scene, Officer Matt Doherty used his taser gun. Minutes later, Juan Manuel Nunez III, 27, was dead.
"Nobody can believe that this happened, not on Jarvis Street," said Jody Rinehart, a neighbor.
Police say Nunez was part of a domestic dispute. They say Officer Doherty arrived, saw Nunez in the doorway and said he needed to be brought under control. Doherty then tased Nunez to the ground. He died minutes later.
Nunez was a 2003 graduate of Texas Tech with a degree in Fine Arts.
Lubbock police are tight-lipped. Chief Claude Jones would not comment publicly about the incident.
Doherty has not been put on administrative leave, while the investigation has been handed over to the Texas Attorney General`s office.
Nunez` uncle says yes, his nephew had been drinking, but he says the family saw him as no threat to the officer and he should never have been tased.
"I`m shocked and appalled and i`m waiting to get the rest of the news," he said.
The autopsy report will shed more light on how Nunez died. Officials say it will be a few more days before a cause of death is released.
Several people in Texas have died after being tased, but this is the first time in Lubbock that it has happened.
It all started with a 911 hang-up coming from 4402 Jarvis late Sunday night. As usual on hang-ups, a police officer responded to the address. Just minutes after his arrival on the scene, Officer Matt Doherty used his taser gun. Minutes later, Juan Manuel Nunez III, 27, was dead.
"Nobody can believe that this happened, not on Jarvis Street," said Jody Rinehart, a neighbor.
Police say Nunez was part of a domestic dispute. They say Officer Doherty arrived, saw Nunez in the doorway and said he needed to be brought under control. Doherty then tased Nunez to the ground. He died minutes later.
Nunez was a 2003 graduate of Texas Tech with a degree in Fine Arts.
Lubbock police are tight-lipped. Chief Claude Jones would not comment publicly about the incident.
Doherty has not been put on administrative leave, while the investigation has been handed over to the Texas Attorney General`s office.
Nunez` uncle says yes, his nephew had been drinking, but he says the family saw him as no threat to the officer and he should never have been tased.
"I`m shocked and appalled and i`m waiting to get the rest of the news," he said.
The autopsy report will shed more light on how Nunez died. Officials say it will be a few more days before a cause of death is released.
Several people in Texas have died after being tased, but this is the first time in Lubbock that it has happened.
