The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) wants the US Justice Department to investigate the death of a Bahamian in New London, Connecticut, after he was shot twice by police stun guns over the weekend, according to American press reports.

Lashano Gilbert, 31, was a medical school graduate studying to upgrade his license in Canada when he became a suspect in an attempted carjacking while visiting his family in Connecticut last week.

He died after police used a Taser on him, once reportedly during his arrest and later as they tried to subdue him in a police station.

While state police are investigating the incident, the NAACP is calling for greater action, according to the newspaper, The Day Connecticut.

Representatives of the NAACP were joined at a press conference in Connecticut yesterday by Mr Gilbert’s mother, Donna Smith, who flew from the Bahamas on learning of her son’s death.

She was quoted as saying that her son was incapable of committing the crime of which he was accused.

“Anyone who know him, know he’s not that kind of person,” she said. “Anyone who know him back home know that’s not Lashano. I don’t know who that is they’re talking about. That’s not my son.”

According to the news report, a staff attorney of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Connecticut noted yesterday that Mr Gilbert’s death is the 15th to occur in that state after someone was stunned by a police Taser.

“There seems to be a dark cloud over the New London Police Department,” said Scot X Esdaile, president of the Connecticut chapter of the NAACP.

“We have been here in New London far too many times. We have asked the US Justice Department to come down here several times to investigate corruption at the New London Police Department,” he said.

“Tasers were originally supposed to be used as alternatives to lethal force,” Mr Esdaile said. “Now we’re seeing how these instruments are being used as tools for torture.”