By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
A BAHAMIAN medical school graduate died in Connecticut on Saturday morning after police officers used stun guns on him twice in the span of eight hours, according to American reports.
The reports suggest that the man acted erratically in the hours before he died.
The death of Lashano Gilbert, 31, is being investigated by Connecticut state police, according to a report by NBC Connecticut.
Gilbert was arrested on suspicion of carjacking on Friday.
Police said they were forced to Taser him twice, once when he resisted arrest and again when he attacked officers at a police station hours later.
A chief medical examiner began examining his body yesterday to determine the cause of his death, the report said.
Gilbert was taken into custody after 7pm on Friday on carjacking charges after he jumped through the open window of a woman’s car as she was driving, according to the report.
Police said he made stabbing gestures toward the driver while appearing to be in an “altered state of mind” and “speaking in a bizarre manner,” the report added.
It is claimed that when police responded to the woman’s 911 call, Gilbert “resisted arrest, telling them he was hearing voices while yelling and acting aggressively.”
Gilbert was reportedly taken by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment before being taken to the police station around 3am.
According to NBC Connecticut, police said while he was in his holding cell, “he removed his pants and began twisting them, as if to make a rope.”
Police tried to take Gilbert’s pants away, however, officers claim that he then lunged at them.
“Gilbert then rushed the door and escaped into the common booking area where he threw objects, including an intoximeter, at officers. A struggle ensued before an officer used a Taser on him,” NBC Connecticut reported.
While he was on the way to a hospital, Gilbert became unresponsive and was pronounced dead at 3:23 am, the report said.
Comments
Straight_Talk_Bahamas 10 years ago
I hope the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is looking into this matter to ensure that this Bahamian citizen was fairly treated and did die needlessly.
positiveinput 10 years ago
What about the individuals who die right here at home in police custody. No use of a taser nor was it said that the individuals were acting in any way strange
GrassRoot 10 years ago
Tasers are technical instruments and need training and electricity. both are scarce commodities in the Bahamas. the local law enforcement applies simple and proven methods such as sticks, fists and similar items. and no reasons needed.
reverendrichlive 10 years ago
These young black males must avoid all unneccessary contact with the law because it never ends favorably. Avoid all appearance of crime, when stopped be respectful...
bigbadbob 10 years ago
especially if your car jacking
Andrewharris 10 years ago
Sounds like he was on some type of drug
John 10 years ago
Anyone who buys that story would buy sand on the beach. First off if you someone is acting erratic and you taze them and take them to a hospital, "appearing to be in an “altered state of mind” and “speaking in a bizarre manner,” the report added. how is he back at the police station in a matter of few short hours? Aren't medical personnel suppose to keep him under observation? Then if he is using his pants 'to make a rope" apparently to hang himself, the police comes and does the job for him...tazed him to death and most people say if you know Connecticut and the reputation of the police towards blacks up there, either they tazed him more than once or something like he may have hit his head when he fell. Unfortunately our own Bahamian police do not have a good reputation when it comes to dealing with mentally unstable persons. Once these persons are detained or restrained they should be kept that way until their mental state is normalized. Persons are very strong when in an altered state of mind due to drugs or a mental condition, and their actions are unpredictable and can be sudden.
AJC 10 years ago
Dis bull man. I live up by here and the police here are way better than back home and New London is a mostly Black mixed city and so are the police. The dude fought the cops and lost. End of the story.
SP 10 years ago
Clear cut case of "being black in America"!
B_I_D___ 10 years ago
@John and SP...what part of the rest of the story did you miss...when they opened his jail cell he busted free and into the public area and proceeded to assault officers and others by grabbing what he could basically and throwing it at them. I'd tazer the mo-fo as well!! I do agree in one respect though, clearly he was hopped up on some sort of drug and should have been kept under medical watch and supervision. Black white pink or purple nothing in this story would have changed given the 'story' as presented.
SP 10 years ago
Don't be so hasty to believe everything just because it comes from a white person!.......That's how we lost BTC!
Firstly Connecticut is an extremely prejudiced state.
American law enforcement have overwhelmingly proven that they cannot be trusted anymore than Bahamian law enforcement....Especially with blacks and are well known for "cooking up evidence" to cover their ass's.
Unless they have footage showing Lashano Gilbert doing what they claim. I will never believe them!
Alternatively, someone may have "slipped" him a drug......Wouldn't be the first time it's happened to traveling Bahamians, that's for sure!
Cobalt 10 years ago
This story sounds a bit fishy.
First of all.... this young man sounds as if he was under the influence of PCP, or some other type of phcadelic helloucenagen. If this is indeed the case.... then hospital policy mandates that he should have been restrained, assessed, drug- tested, stabilized, detoxified, and then reevaluated by a physician before being placed back into police custody. This process of command is done in order to avoid harm to the police officers, hospital staff, and the subject himself.
So why then was he still behaving erratically when released into police custody??? His family members need to hire a lawyer to review his toxicology reports. Either hospital personnel is at fault, or the police department is guilty of using excessive force. My bet is on the police force.
John 10 years ago
@ BTD wouldn't is seem strange that a medical school graduate from the Bahamas would be up in Connectcut "carjacking"? And if he was "visiting" where would he need a car to go? If the police observed that he was acting erratically and "while appearing to be in an “altered state of mind” and “speaking in a bizarre manner,” the report added." , wasn't he a person in need of medical attention, rather than being treated as a criminal who is attempting car jacking? No, but because he was black, they took him to a hospital, as the law requires, probably got a toxology report saying he was drunk or under the influence of drugs and brought him back and jailed him rather that allowing him to receive proper medical attention. When he started acting out again he was tazed at least one more time. Tazers can stop a persons heart and if he was already suffering from a mental condition or under the influence of some substance it was fatal. But lets wait and hear the family's side of the story. A footnote: A black person is killed every 18 hours by a police in the USA.
B_I_D___ 10 years ago
So he jumps through an open window into the back of some unknown females car who then calls the police...he probably went to the hospital, they classified him as drunk or whatever, and he was returned to police custody to sober up in the drunk tank. He busts free and is threatening police...unfortunately he died, but at least all he got was tazed and not shot. Total agreement that tazer can do harm, and chances are his medical condition at that time might have compounded the effects...but pray tell...the young man is loose in the police department, hurling projectiles at officers...what do you want them to do...pile on top of him and beat the crap out of him while they try to subdue him? Just curious as to how you think this should have played out in a more 'civilized' manner. And I mean no ill will to the dead here, that is tragic, but I cannot see where the police force did anything out of order here...given the information we have been presented. Sadly, everyone always has to jump up and down and scream he's only dead because he's a black man. Very sad commentary.
AJC 10 years ago
You know how much drugs are on the street here and how many are the exotic type that turn people aggressive? The word on the street was he was wigged out from too much and did what he did to a black lady.
MaLambee 10 years ago
Well, someone said it right young black men should do whatever they can to avoid contact with the law. Am sorry for the young black man, but we should employ our youngsters, sons, brothers, nephews etcs to be aware of racial profiling and behave accordingly. The reality is that most of you would be afraid of a any person who is acting erratically. We can't be sure what happened, but he he was carjacking that is a criminal offence. Once you are in an 'obviously guilty' situation, no telling what could happen. Try to stay clean...away from drugs and crime.
GrassRoot 10 years ago
I think our Minister Extraordinaire for International Affairs and Immigration should address this incident at the UN Assembly and decry Police brutality of the ...... police department and the death of a Bahamian citizen in Custody of ..... police department as a fundamental violation of basic human rights. (feel free to fill in the blanks yourself).
SP 10 years ago
What Minister Extraordinaire you referring to?.......Not Fred aye?
AJC 10 years ago
Y'all got jokes man...... Rule number 1 for any man: NEVER, EVER FIGHT WITH THE POLICE. Anyone that does and it does not matter, black or white, can count on at least being seriously hurt or quite possibly dead. What part of that does not everyone understand? That being said: Yes, word on the street up here is yeah he was a cool, but he gat all buss up on rum or street meds and did all this.
John 10 years ago
Ok so you are again assuming that his mental condition was self induced. When I attended college in the US I saw some of the most bizzare behavior during exam times. One of the most brilliant, but quiet student locked himself in a females car and had to be forcefully removed and restrained. Others stripped naked and ran around the campus or went to some administrators office. Then there were incidents where persons went out partying on the weekend out and had to be withdrawn from school. Then of course there was a suicide and several attempted ones. The point here mental illness is a sickness. It is not always self induced. A police will not kill someone for losing a leg or arm...Why should they kill them for losing their mind?
AJC 10 years ago
That's how it goes my brother. The cops never lose,but I know one thing. They did not mean for the brother to die,that musse be due to a heart condition or the meds, along with the tasering?
B_I_D___ 10 years ago
If they tazered him, I do not think their intent was to kill him, it just so happened that the process of being tazered triggered something else medically within him that caused him to pass. If their intent was to kill they would have just outright shot him. The intent behind the tazer is to be NON-LETHAL and safer for all involved instead of someone getting shot or ending up in a huge brawl and attempt to subdue by police officers...do you think it would have ended well if the police officers all piled on top of him like a football tackle and 'subdued' him? They could be hurt or killed, and he most definitely would have been hurt and could have still ended up dead.
B_I_D___ 10 years ago
Another similar story for you...at least this guy survived...tazered AND got the crap beat out of him...again, acting stupid and resisting arrest after alcohol and possibly drugs... http://edition.cnn.com/2014/10/06/justi…
John 10 years ago
You are assuming that the man's mental state was self induced. Suppose he had a nervous break down or was drugged by someone else. The fact here is that he was not in his right state of mind and was in the custody of police. Their duty was to ensure his safety and survival not kill him. If a person lose an arm or leg the police are not expected to kill him. Why should they kill someone if they loses their mind?
B_I_D___ 10 years ago
Again...the intent was not to kill the man...to tazer someone is not an intent to kill, the tazer is designed to be a NON-LETHAL way of subduing someone in the safest possible manner...which in this case it wasn't obviously, but the sheer fact that they used a tazer shows that they did NOT want to kill him. The police clearly felt if he was approached up close and personal in an attempt to subdue him, some other physical harm or damage could occur...tazer him, get him back under control, get him some further medical attention, clearly the man is off his rocker. I seriously doubt the officer had it going through his mind that...Man...I gonna tazer this guy, cause I know he has one heart condition and this tazer man, it's gonna kill him dead one time...get serious. It was an anomaly that whatever was going on in his body, natural, drugs or alcohol induced, didn't bode well with the tazer and overwhelmed him...most likely a heart attack.
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