Family, Friends Remember St. Paul Man Who Died After Alleged Tasering
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Friends and family are remembering a St. Paul man who died after an altercation with police.
The medical examiner said Sinth Khottavongsa, 57, died just two days after police used a Taser on him.
Brooklyn Center Police responded to a call of a group of people fighting in a parking lot in the 5800 block of Xerxes Avenue on Jan. 16. They say that's where they saw Sinth holding a crow bar "in a threatening manner."
Police say they ordered him to drop it but when he didn't, they used their Taser on him.
Khottavongsa fell to the ground and hit his head. He was taken to North Memorial Medical Center but died two days later.
"It's pretty hard on everybody right now," Kevin Khottavongsa, Sinth Khottavongsa's son, said. "We hope that the community rallies behind us and just shows love and support just like my dad would in times of need like this."
Kevin said his father was helping a friend fix something the night police used a Taser on him. He said he was a carpenter, and would often help people in the community.
"He spent many nights [at Church] where he would be up until two or three o'clock in the morning here fixing a leaky pipe and wouldn't the church charge a dime," Overcomer's Victory Church pastor Donnell Bratton said. "He wouldn't hurt a fly."
The Hennepin County Sheriff's office is now investigating this case.
A Go Fund Me Page has been set up in Sinth's memory.