'He Wasn't A Violent Person:' Family Seeks Answers After Bronx Man Dies During Encounter With Police
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The family of a Bronx man, who suffered cardiac arrest and died after he was Tasered twice during an encounter with police, are demanding answers.
Police were called to 1840 Mayflower Avenue in Pelham Bay around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday on a report of an emotionally disturbed person threatening a neighbor with a knife.
When three officers and a sergeant arrived, 49-year-old Ariel Galarza threatened them with a broken bottle, police sources said.
A sergeant deployed his Taser and tried to handcuff Galarza, but he resisted, a police source said. The sergeant used his Taser again, and the man went into cardiac arrest, the source said.
The officers performed CPR before Galarza was rushed to the hospital, where he died.
Galarza's sister said her brother, who also went by the name David Lee on Facebook, had learning disabilities, but no emotional problems.
"I'm in shock, I feel like it's a bad dream," Mildred Galarza said, adding that she has "lots of questions."
Galarza's ex-girlfriend, Lydia Ramos, and her daughter, Monica Charriez, lived with Galarza for 10 years.
"He was a wonderful person, I don't know why they did this to him," Ramos said.
Charriez said Galarza recently suffered a minor stroke, but otherwise was in good mental and physical condition.
"He did not deserve this," Charriez said, refuting reports that he was mentally ill. "I lived with him for 10 years, he wasn't [mentally ill], he was a sweetheart."
She said Galarza led a quiet life in his basement apartment and that he didn't have a violent bone in his body.
"Maybe he was just having a bad day. If you knew him he was just naturally loud mouthed and that was just part of his charisma, his character," Charriez said. "He was a sweetheart, he wasn't a violent person."
"He was a jolly person. That's why this is making the situation all the more hard to believe because this man was so jolly and happy," she added. "He always had a smile on his face, he was always happy. He was such a fun loving person."
"I don't know what they're saying about him but I know he wasn't crazy or nothing like that. Never no commotions, never any problems," Derrick Reno, who lived in the same house as Galarza, told WCBS 880's Sean Adams. "He was a cool guy, he was a regular dude."
The incident comes three weeks after the NYPD came under fire when a sergeant used a gun, not a Taser, to subdue an emotionally disturbed woman in the Bronx. Police said 66-year-old Deborah Danner went after them with a baseball bat. She died after being shot.
The mayor and police commissioner condemned the shooting, and raised questions about why the sergeant in that case didn't use his Taser.
The sergeant in the Danner case was immediately placed on desk duty -- his gun and badge taken away -- and Police Commissioner James O'Neill said the NYPD had failed.
Following Wednesday' incident, Ed Mullins the President of the Sergeants Benevolent Association urged caution against rushing to judgement.
"It's Monday morning quarterbacking, which we could all do for the next couple of weeks and months, but we were not in the building," he said.
Mullins said he recently spoke with O'Neill about the department's procedures for dealing with emotionally disturbed people, or EDPs, after the Danner case, CBS2's Marcia Kramer reported.
"If we failed, commissioner, why is it that we're 10 days later following the same policies and practices to allow us to fail again? And I was told 'we're looking into it,'" he said.
Galarza's death is being investigated by the Force Investigation Division.
A spokesman for the mayor said it "appears the officer acted appropriately."