Questions Surround Teen's Death After Being Tasered By Police
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Nearly one week after a 19-year-old died after being Tasered by police, we still don't know exactly what killed him.
Monique Griego has more on the two ongoing investigations.
Both police and the family are trying to figure out exactly what happened that day. A key piece of evidence will be George King's cause of death but that has yet to be released.
There are still a lot of unanswered questions surrounding the death of King and the police encounter that led up to it.
"He was brutalized by the officers," said his mother, Georgette King.
King's mother says the 19-year-old died after a city police officer shocked him five times with a Taser during an altercation at Good Samaritan Hospital. The teen, who'd been given a sedative, slipped into a coma and passed away a week later on May 14.
He'd been hospitalized due to an allergic reaction to medication after a dental procedure.
The family's attorney--who is conducting his own investigation--says King's cause of death will play a key role in whether a lawsuit is filed.
"The autopsy is going to tell us why he died, how he died. We're going to see where the Taser marks are on his body," said Granville Templeton, the family's attorney.
According to police, they were called to the hospital because King became combative with staff. They say when officers arrived, he was engaged in a violent fight with at least five security guards who couldn't control him.
"We do know that one of our officers used a Taser but we're trying to look and see what that relationship was with everything that took place before our arrival," said Lt. Eric Kowalczyk, Baltimore City Police.
Templeton believes a Taser should never have been used.
"Why are law enforcement agencies using Tasers so much in instances where they really don't need to use them? Tasers can be dangerous," he said.
Police say they are trying to keep their investigation transparent. Monday, they met with the family and community members.
The two officers involved are still on full duty because King was not in custody at the time of his death.
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